


Tacky Little Dolls

by mrgoldsdearie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Magic, Office Sex, Smut, Voodoo dolls, phantom touch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-14 00:30:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7991974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrgoldsdearie/pseuds/mrgoldsdearie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aindreas (AHn-dree-ahs) Gold and Belle French have worked in the same office for the past six months. Even after a few dates together, their doting hearts just can't find a way to move their friendship to the next level. Two peculiar voodoo dolls may help them find their road to love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Please Stop At My Desk

**Author's Note:**

> This story is actually a one-shot split into separate posts. These are the first three parts of the story and the others will follow as I finish the fic. This thing has gotten ahead of me and its a lot longer than I expected. So, I thought posting them this way will be better for the reader. I do have parts four, five, and six completed and they will be up in a few days. This is inspired by the September prompt Voodoo Doll and Phantom Touch from the @a-monthly-rumbelling blog. I don’t post my own fics on that blog so you won't find this story there or in the event tag. I just feel better leaving it out. I hope those who read enjoy and will look forward to the upcoming parts. Happy reading.

_They had no idea of what was about to happen. They had no idea that true love was actually in the cards for them._

## •••••••

## Part One: Please Stop At My Desk

“You really did it again, didn’t you?” Ruby Lucas asks, taking a seat on top of her friend’s work desk. “You went out on another date with him.”

Belle French sits quietly with a coy smirk upon her face, pretending to type up another useless memo their boss has authorized her to do.

“You can’t hide the answer.” She grabs one of the stuffed griffins Belle has adorned her desk with and playfully dangles it in front of the computer. “It’s written all over your face.”

Belle snatches the toy and places it back in its proper place between the book collection and her favorite mini tea set. She then turns in the swiveling desk chair and looks back at Ruby. “Yes,” she says, edges of her soft rose painted lips curling up in another smile.

“I can’t believe you went out on another one with him.” She shakes her head, mystified at the thought. “After you told me how he babbled on about condiments being some all-powerful magic and spilling the wine all over the table, I thought that would be the end of it.” Her voice slowly rises with each passing word. “But you went out with him again!?”

“Shhh.” Belle quickly stands, peeping her head up from behind her three-walled cubicle, making sure Ruby hasn't drawn any unwelcome attention to them. This office is swarming with Nosy Nancys and Mary-Margaret Blanchard, just two cubes away, is the worst of them all. “Not so loud.” She sits back down, straightening the hem of her skirt. “He's not back from lunch yet but I don't want him, or anyone else, to hear us.”

“Okay, fine—” Ruby leans in close to Belle’s personal space— “but why did you go out with him again?”, she whispers.

Belle nibbles on her bottom lip, cutting her eyes away from Ruby, thinking of the Saturday night she spent with the handsome little Scotsmen whose desk sits right across from hers.

Aindreas Gold works in the accounting department, punching numbers into his computer, day in and day out. He never complains about the job and he's never late. Aindreas is a math wiz always willing to help anyone with math equations that might stump others. He’s only worked in the company the past six months, but the moment Belle laid eyes on him there was something about him she thought was fiercely attractive. She worked up the courage to ask him out on a date a few weeks ago and since then they've seen each other outside the office twice.

“He’s the sweetest guy I've ever met,” Belle says eventually.

“He's awkward.” Ruby sits up straight, crossing her arms.

“We surprisingly have a lot of things in common.” She plucks up a stack of papers and shuffles them straight.

“He's awkward,” Ruby repeats.

“And I think he’s adorable.”

Ruby squints, tipping her head to the left. “Didn’t you hear me say he was awkward?”

“Yes, I did—” she slaps the papers down on the desk— “and I chose to ignore you. I know he's not the kind of guy you’d think I'd go for. He's two decades older than me and everyone thinks he's unusual because he likes to keep to himself, but I can be thought of as a little odd too.”

Ruby glances over all the neatly organized knick-knacks, books, dolls, and miniature tea set collections cluttering up Belle’s desk. “Okay, that's true,” she says nonchalantly, shrugging her right shoulder.

“I’m also going to ignore the fact that you looked over my desk before you answered.” Belle loves every item on her desk and it makes her workplace feel more like home. “Anyway, I don't know if this will ever really go anywhere, but I do have fun with him outside of work. Even if no one else can see it.”

“Okay, I get it,” Ruby insists. “I'm not trying to make you change your mind or anything. I just—” she slicks her right hand through her long threads of dark brunette curls— “I just really didn't get it.”

“That's fine.” Belle can understand her confusion. She tried to tell herself for the longest time that nothing would ever be between her and her office mate from across the way. The moment she extinguished those thoughts from her mind, she finally asked him out on a date and he said yes. It was one of her happiest office moments. “Thank you for being honest about it,” she goes on to say.

“You're welcome.”

 _*ding*_ The elevator doors on the far left side of the office slides open.

Belle’s heart skips a beat when she glances at the time. 1:17pm. “You have to go,” she says hastily.

“What?” Ruby gawks back with bewilderment plastered on her face.

“He comes back from lunch and steps off that elevator at the same time every day,” Belle promptly explains. She's observed Aindreas’ routine for the past six months and it has never changed. “We went out on Saturday and I know he's going to stop at my desk. You need you go now.”

“Why do I have to go again?”, Ruby jokes.

Belle leers at her vexed, crossing her arms and tapping her three-inch pink leather pump.

“Okay, I'll go,” Ruby chuckles and grins, standing from the desk. “See ya around.” She glides out of the cubical just as Aindreas is making his way closer to Belle’s desk.

Belle checks her appearances in the reflection on her computer screen. She makes sure she has no lipstick marks on her teeth from when she freshened her makeup after eating a warm chicken caesar salad for lunch. She then patiently waits for him to stop and talk to her.

Aindreas speedily shuffles past Belle’s desk, holding several files against his chest, straight into his cubicle. He places the files on the desktop and scoots the mouse to wake up the computer.

Belle watches with perplexity on her face. They went out together only two nights ago and he didn't even stop at her desk to chat. Now she feels like she must say something. “Umm—” she flips her hair off of her shoulder— “Drew?”

“Yes?”, he answers, straightening the pencils on his workplace, counting them to make sure no one has stolen any while he was out.

The office hotheads like Jones and his crew of middle-aged misfits are always touching something on Aindreas’ desk—or, playing some humorless practical joke. Aindreas often envisions scorching their desks every time he hears them snickering behind his back.

“Don't you have something to say to me, Drew?”, Belle asks. She was hoping she didn't have to be the one to bring it up. She knows he’s a bit shy, but she didn't think she’d have to start every conversation between them. When they were out together he showed more confidence than he ever has in the office and also did most of the talking.

“Oh, yes—” he turns to face her— “I do.” Steps up to her desk, adjusting the pink paisley tie around his neck. “Mrs. Mills wanted me to ask you about the memo.” Tips his head slightly to the lift. “Have you finished it yet?”

“What?”

“The memo you're typing up. Mrs. Mills wants that done today, but I don't know why she's breathing down my neck about it. If you need any help with it, though, you know where I am.”

“Oh, umm, what?” She blinks, disoriented about why he hasn't mentioned their date.

“You're being quite silly today, Miss French.” He chortles with a flash from his bright pearly whites. “I like that.” He circles back to his desk.

“Wait, Drew.” She quickly stands to her feet, stopping him from making his escape.

“Yes, Miss French?” He peeks back at her.

She stands, anxiously fidgeting with her hands. Was their date surely that unmemorable? “Saturday night?”, she whimpers, eyes broad and misty.

He steps back up to her desk and gazes down as he traces his finger around the rim of one of her mini tea cups. “Saturday night was exquisite, Belle.”

She loves it when he speaks her name thickly in his Glasgow accent. It sends volts down her spine. “I thought so too.”

He fixes his eyes back at her. Her sparkling ocean blues are a welcoming sight. He kept finding himself lost in them on their date together. The delicate lighting in the restaurant made her skin glow and she looked like an angel in her gold strapless dress. That night was one of the best dinners he's had in a long time and he never wanted the moment to end.

“Thank you again, Belle, for spending time with me,” Aindreas says, gracious of every moment they spent together.

“The pleasure was all mine.” She traces her finger around the same cup and slowly chases his.

They both dissolve into laughter over the playful little act.

Belle nibbles on her bottom lip, lightly grazing her finger across his. “Would you like to do it all again and go out this Saturday night?”

“Oh, I can't.” He slips his hands into the pockets of his black slacks and takes a step back from her desk. “I'm going to New York this weekend. My son is kind of a theater kid and we've been saving up to see a broadway show.”

“That's sounds amazing,” she says ecstatic. She admires the idea of him taking a trip with his son and feels honored that he shared that bit of information with her. “What show are you seeing?”

“I don't know.” He shrugs. “Baelor is so excited he hasn't made up his mind yet, but I'm sure I'll have an answer for you by the end of the week.”

“I'll be looking forward to it.” Her eyes smile at him and her cheeks blush a soft pink tinge. She can't keep her body from expressing how she feels towards him.

He nods, beaming as well. He has a good sense that her blush is for him.

“It's nice that you get to have so much time with your son.”

“Bae’s an incredible kid and I love him more than anything.”

“As a father should.” She'd adore having a chance to meet his son someday.

They gaze into each other's eyes, feeling a pull drawing them closer together, hearing nothing but the beating of their own doting hearts. Neither of them truly know how to act on their connection, or take the next step in their unusual attraction.

“Well,” Aindreas breaks the silence between them. “I -- I know that you're busy, Miss French. So -- so I'll see you around.” He quickly turns away and shuffles back to his desk.

“See ya, Drew,” she sighs, sitting back in her desk chair and actually beings typing up the memo for Mrs. Mills.


	2. The Dragon’s Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aindreas and Baelor Gold find a little shop in New York

## Part Two: The Dragon’s Shop

The week flashes by for Aindreas and Belle, clocking into work every morning at 9am and clocking out every evening at 4. Nothing out of the ordinary happens to them and they have no more contract with each other than what they normally have. Their days are pretty mundane and stale throughout the week, but they do always manage to put a smile on the others face.

It's Sunday afternoon as Aindreas and Baelor Gold send their last day in the great city of New York. Their weekend trip is only a three-hour drive from their home in Storybrooke, Maine and they have enough time before the sun begins to set to see more sights of the magnificent city.  

“Stop the car, papa,” Baelor abruptly yelps.

Aindreas slams his foot on the break, bringing the black Cadillac to a screeching halt, causing everyone in the car to forcefully jerk forward. But their belts keep them safe from injury. “What is it, son,” he says panicked, checking to make sure his only boy is securely locked in the seat belt.

“I'm fine, papa.” Baelor shoos his father's hands away. He's nearly fourteen and Aindreas still tries to protect him like a baby.

He sighs in relief, “Okay.” Rests his hands back on the steering wheel, catching his breath. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It's okay, son,” he says with a chuckle in his throat. “So what's all this fuss about?”

“That sign.” Baelor points out of the passenger's window.  “I keep seeing it all over the city.”

“What sign?” Aindreas squints.

“Right—” he retracts his arm and extends it outside of the window again— “there!” Baelor says clearly. “I'm pointing right at it. It's like the hundredth time I've seen it.”

“Oh, oh I see it now.” Aindreas nods, reading the sign hanging on the wooden post of a light pole. “The Dragon’s Shop?”

“Yeah, let's go there.” He gazes at his father, wonderment gleaming in his eyes. “We're being called to it.”

“Bae, that's the first time I've seen the sign. I think it's only calling to you.”

“Okay, so maybe it is just calling to me.” He shrugs. “But we can still go.”

“Umm…. I don't know, son.” He thinks The Dragon’s Shop sounds like a tourist novelty store.

Baelor widens his deep coffee-colored eyes and stares at his father like a sad lonely kitten. “Please, papa,” He frowns.

Aindreas sighs, stroking his left hand through his shoulder-length salt and pepper hair. He's been trying to build a tolerance to that look for years but has been unsuccessful. “You know I can never say no to you when you look at me that way.”

“Yeah, I know,” Baelor replies with a self-satisfied grin. He completely understands the influence he has over his father. “That's why I do it.”

He conceals his face in his hands and slowly shakes his head. “Damn this magical hold you have on me.” 

Baelor chuckles to himself. He knows his father's cry in defeat is just a playful act.

“Okay, okay, son.” He looks back up at the boy and winks. “Write down the address.”

“I've already googled it.” He shows Aindreas the open maps app on his phone. “We're only two minutes away.”

He tassels his son’s head of thick burnt umber curls. “What would I do without you?” He smiles at the boy with pure love gleaming in his heart, then shifts the gears on the car to drive.

“You'd probably be lost.”

“That sounds about right.” Aindreas pushes his foot on the gas and follows his son’s directions from the google maps app.

## •••••••

Aindreas stands outside of his black Cadillac, holding the door open for his son. “You should get back into the car.” He tries to close the door, but Baelor pushes it open.

“Why?” He quickly hops out. “We're already here.” Shuts the door behind him.

“I don't like the look of this place.” Aindreas’ eyes scan over the building. It's cracked brick walls, tinted windows, and dried dying potted foliage, make the shop appear uninviting. He doesn't get a feeling of spookiness from the place, but the vibes he does feel aren't on the pleasant side.

“Don't be scared, papa, I'll protect you.” He takes his father's hand and pulls him towards the building.

“I'm not scared and I know you will protect me,” he says while being dragged closer to the door. “But I -- I just don't know, Bae”

Baelor rests Aindreas’ hand on the door handle. “After you, papa,” he snickers.

“Where do you think all the other customers are?”

“I don't know, maybe this is just a little-hidden gem of the city.”

“I hope that's the case and this place isn't condemned or something.”

“I'm sure it's not condemned,” Baelor says laughing and places his hand over his father's. “After you, papa.” He pulls open the heavy glass door and steps to the right.

“Okay,” Aindreas sighs and slowly begins his ascent inside. “Let's get this over with.”

Baelor and his father are amazed by what they find inside the odd little store. “It's a magic shop!”, he says excited, dragging Aindreas further inside.

“Why are you so happy?”, Aindreas ask, brushing the feathers off of his head that hangs from the ceiling. “You've never shown any interest in magic.”

“No, but that doesn't mean I can't find it fascinating.”

“Okay, that's true.”

“Oh, look!” Baelor let's go of Aindreas’ hand and races to a top hat sitting alone on a shelf. “And for my next trick—” turns to his father with a sly smirk, placing the hat delicately on his head— “I'll pull a mysterious magical item out of my empty hat.”

“Woohoo!”, Aindreas cheers, clapping his hands. He adores his son’s spontaneous theatrical acts. “What will you pull out of the hat?”

“I don't know.” He shrugs tapping the top of the hat. “It's a mystery— or, probably just a rabbit.” With a flourish of his right-hand Baelor removes the hat from his head and dips his left hand inside, pulling out a stuffed toy carrot from the hat’s secret compartment.

“A carrot!?”, Aindreas says stunned by the rather anticlimactic reveal.

“The rabbit is on vacation,” a raspy unfamiliar voice suddenly speaks behind Aindreas’ back.

“Shit!”, he shrieks, turning to face an old man in a long purple cloak. “Where the hell did you come from?”

“Papa,” Baelor says laughing at his father’s horrified reaction. “He came from the back room behind the checkout desk.” He saw the man walking up behind his father as he pulled the toy out from the hat.

“Oh,”Aindreas breathes, placing his right hand over his thumping heart, looking off to the far side of the shop and notices an open door behind a long wood desk.

“My apologies, sir,” the old man says graciously. “Didn't mean to give you a fright.”

“No, no, it's alright,” Aindreas insists.

“Yeah it really is,” Baelor instantly adds. “He's had the heebie-jeebies since he's laid eyes on this place.”

“Heebie?.... Jeebies?”, the old man says completely puzzled by the child's phrase.

“You know…. The spooks,” Baelor clarifies.

“Ah, yes.” The old man’s eyes brighten as he comes to understand what the boy meant and nods with a smile. “This place gets that reaction all the time, but I can assure you, sir—” he looks to Aindreas— “there’s nothing spooky in my humble little shop. The inventory here is mostly for beginners and the amateur looking to take up a weekend hobby.”

“Oh -- oh, alright.” Aindreas nods.

“Have a look around—” the old man extends his left arm, presenting the items on display in the shop— “and see what catches your eye. If you have any questions, I'll be at the front desk.”

“Alright, thank you,” Aindreas replied, still fighting off the urge of grabbing his son by the arm and making this place a distant memory.

“No, no, sir.” The old man bows. “Thank you.” He quickly turns and heads to the desk. His long cloak covers his feet and it appears as those he's floating away instead of walking.

“Well, that was creepy,” Aindreas comments, shivering from a cold chill that swiftly rushed through his body.

“I knew you were going to say that.” Baelor rests the top hat back on the shelf.

“And I know that you want something out of this place,” he says half laughing, lightly booping the tip of Baelor's nose with his pointer finger. “So, let's just find it and get the hell out.”

“Okay, papa.”

As they search the shop separately for something Baelor can take home as a souvenir, Aindreas stumbles across a shelf with strange little bundles of sewn and stuffed cloth. He picks up one of the items and can't help but to see a familiarity in it’s stitched up face.

Dressed in a little black suit with a rosy tie, long thick threads of brown and white yarn for hair which rests on the shoulders, the peculiar male figure remarkably mirrors himself.

“What the hell?”, he mumbles under his breath.

Attached with a thin rope and hanging on the arm of the odd little doll, is a female friend that resembles someone Aindreas knows.

“Is that supposed to be Belle?”

Aindreas scans over the other dolls on the shelf which have a rather plain and generic style to them. None are as details as the ones in his hands. They also aren't paired with a mate on their arms.

“Wow, those are cool,” Baelor comments, stepping up to stand beside his father.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want them?”, he offers, handing them over to his son.

“Naw, I'm gonna get this beginners kit.” He shakes the box in his hand. “But you should get them, papa. You can't leave a cool thing like that in this shop.” He strokes his fingers through the female doll’s long straight strands of brown yarn hair. “This one—” points at the male doll— “even looks like you.”

“Yeah, he does. You don't think it's creepy?”

“No, not at all. I think they're cute.”

“I was starting to think that too.”  Aindreas smiles at the dolls, their appearances are really growing on him. “This one looks like Belle. She even has a yellow dress.”

“Is that the woman from work who you went out on a date with?”, Baelor asks.

Aindreas nods to agree.

“Now you definitely have to get them,” he adds.

“I think I will get them and give them to Belle.” Aindreas was hoping to find something to bring back to Belle from their trip. These dolls will be the perfect thing for her. “She has the best desk in the office that's filled with marvelous treasures,” he goes on to say. “She'd really adore these dolls and I know they'd look great resting on her desk.”

“I think that's an amazing idea, papa.”

“Thanks.” He takes the magic kit from his son. “Okay, let's pay so we can start heading back to Storybrooke.”

“Alright.”

When Aindreas purchases the items, the store owner was a bit excited about the dolls which caught his customer's interest. He said he had the dolls since opening the shop and always hoped they’d find a home. He informs Aindreas and Baelor that the dolls are actually voodoo dolls and gives them a bit of background about the history of this style of doll. Aindreas was instantly put off by the idea of the dolls possessing magical abilities. But the old man assured him that these dolls are no more powerful than a dog's chew toy.

Aindreas and Baelor Gold leave the shop with their _non-magical_ magical treasures and begin their journey back to their apartment in an old refurbished pink Victorian style manor.


	3. I’m Normally Not That Ticklish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's really not that ticklish!

## Part Three: I’m Normally Not That Ticklish

Monday afternoon in the employee office at The Mills Sisters Inc, Belle sits down at her desk after clocking into work late.

“Good afternoon, Miss French,” Aindreas greets his desk neighbor from behind his computer screen, configuring the company's monthly spending budget.

“Good afternoon, Drew,” she replies with a welcoming smile, surprised that she didn't have to say anything to him first.

“I'm happy you could join us for another day of stale paperwork.”

“I wouldn't have missed this for the world,” she says with a bubbly giggle, turning on her computer. “I just had a bit of car trouble this morning, but I got it all worked out.”

“I'm thrilled to hear that.”

“Thanks,” she replies, logging into her work account. “How was your weekend in New York?”

“I'm happy you mentioned that.” He scoots his chair to the left, freeing himself from the computer screen.

“You are?” She scoots in her chair as well, giving him all her attention.

“Yes. Bae and I had an incredible time together. We saw the broadway show of The Lion King. It was spectacular. Bae really wants to be in theater someday."

"That's so sweet."

"And, we brought you something back.”

“Really?” Her heart fills with warmth. She almost can't believe he thought of her during his trip.

“Yes, really.” He opens the top drawer of his desk, removes a white box, and stands from his seat. He takes the box to Belle’s desk and rests it before her.

“Is this for me?” She giggles, knowing all too well this box is for her.

“Yes, I think so.” He plays along with her little joke. “I hope you like them.”

“I'm sure I will.”

He could give her an empty box and she'd still probably love it to death just because it came from him. But she knows he would never give her an empty box.

Belle gently lifts the lid off the box and her heart skips a beat when she finds the cutest little dolls she's seen in ages. “Oh, Aindreas,” she says thick with emotion. “They’re adorable.” She removes them from the box. “Are they suppose to be us? Did you have them made?”

“They’re voodoo dolls and I actually found them this way.” He stands tall and proud, taking in the breathtaking sight of her reaction. It’s more beautiful than he imagined it would be. “Don't worry though. They're the safe kind of voodoo doll. No magical curses.”

“Aww, you found them this way?” She bends her head slightly to the right, holding the dolls against her chest. “I think that makes them even more special and I'm so happy to hear they are curse free.” She feels so cared for that he's given her such an amazing gift.

Aindreas’ cheeks softly blooms, delighted to have brightened Belle’s day. “Do you really like them?”

“I love them,” she says, resting the dolls back into the box. She then stands from her seat, meets him on the other side of the desk, and wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She can’t help but to breath in the inviting scent of cologne. “Thank you,” she sighs.

Aindreas’ body tenses to her treasured touch. He didn't expect their bodies to be so close. All it took was the sound of her comforting sigh for his body to meld into her beloved embrace. “You're welcome,” he finally manages to speak, his rich Scottish brogue even thicker than normal. He'd love to stay wrapped in her warm arms forever, but he slowly pulls out from them. They're touching at work and all the Nosy Nancys are watching. “I -- I thought you could put them on your desk,” he says, trying to hide how much their hug meant to him.

Belle coquettishly bites her bottom lip, glancing down at her four-inch black pumps. “You actually think my desk needs more things?” She hoods her azure eyes back up at him.

“Yes,” He quickly answers with a nod.

“You don't think it's an eyesore?” She curls her finger around a strip of her chestnut colored hair.

“No, not at all. I love your desk.” He slips his hands into his pockets, fighting off the urge to touch her again. “It has so much of your personality on it. I -- I can only wish mine could be so interesting.”

“You can always put a bit of your personality on your desk.”

“I don't know, Belle.” He glances to the floor, kicking a yellow pencil that rolled under the wall of the cubical. “I don't really have anything.”

“Here.” She picks up her dolls and unties the rope linking their arms together. “You can have a little me sitting on your desk and I'll have a little you.”

“Oh, I -- I don't know, Belle.” He takes a step back. “I bought them for you.”

“I know—” she takes a step forward, slightly closing the bigger gap he put between them— “and I appreciate that with all my heart. But now I'm giving her to you.” She lays the doll on his chest.

“Oh, Belle.” He wraps his hand around the doll, graciously accepting her gift. “Thank you.  I'll cherish this little doll.”

“And I'll cherish mine too,” she says with a radiant smile, elated that he’s taking the small toy. “I can't get over how cute they are.” She tickles the tummy of her Mr. Gold doppelganger.

Aindreas Gold suddenly feels a tingling sensation brushing over his stomach and a spontaneously awkward giggle escapes his lips. “Hehehe hahaha!” He immediately gasps, taken aback by the bizarre sensation. Aindreas wraps his arms around his stomach and quickly glances the office making sure he hasn't gained any more unwanted attention.

“Are you alright?”, Belle asks with great concern.

“Yes -- yes I'm fine,” he insists.  “I just -- I just had a strange feeling in my gut.” Doesn't know how else to explains what just happened.

“Do you have a bellyache?”

“No -- no I don't think so. It was just a weird feeling, but it's gone now.”

“It was probably just a bit of gas.”

“Yeah, I think that's it.” He conceives himself that's it's nothing but gas and hopes that he doesn't have to think of it again. Such an unexpected reaction has now ruined their conversations. All he can think is that this will be the only thing she’ll remember from their chat.

Belle treats Aindreas to a reassuring smile. She can tell that the event has diminished his confidence. But when he smiles back at her, she knows he’ll be alright. “Well, I hate to kinda rush you off like this, but I got a lot of work to catch up with from this morning.”

“Oh -- oh that's fine. I completely understand.”

“Thank you.” She treads back to her desk. “And thank you so much for the doll. I'm going to have a lot of fun with him.”

“I hope you do,” he replies, slowly walking backward out of her cubicle  “Thank you for the doll as well. She'll look pretty on my desk.”

“You're welcome.” She rests her doll on top of her small collection of books. “See ya around, Drew.”

“See you around, Belle.” He turns away and heads back to his desk to finish off the day's work.


	4. Mr. Gold Doll, Meet Griffin Belle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wehave some strange feelings happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I worked hard to get this up today and I made it by my deadline. YAY! I believe parts seven and eight will be the last parts of this fic. I’m still working on them, but I’m hoping to have them posted later this week. Thanks to all that read and left comments on the last parts. I’m glad so many love this story so far. I hope those who read these parts enjoy them just as much. Happy reading.

## Part Four: Mr. Gold Doll, Meet Griffin Belle

 

It’s been a week since Aindreas and Belle had exchanged their gifts of dolls. The dolls have harmoniously remained on their desk, keeping their human counterparts company as they work. Today is an inordinately slow work day for Belle and sitting across from Aindreas caused her mind to wonder. She thinks about him and his striking gorgeous features. She’s never seen a nose with quite the definition as his and would do almost anything to delicately run her fingers across the bridge.  Belle often wonders how a scenario would go if they were to ever take their friendship a little further. So she decides to pass the lazy time at her desk by getting a bit of entertainment out of some of the toys she’s collected. 

She takes her Mr. Gold voodoo doll and favorite purple stuffed griffin down from the stack of books resting on a small shelf. And then hunches in her chair behind the computer. Doesn’t want anyone in the office to see as she entertains herself with a little x-rated puppet show.

 _“I know this is only our twentieth date, but do you think we’re really ready?”_ Belle whispers, trying to imitate Aindreas’ accent, holding the Mr. Gold doll next to the purple griffin.

 _“I understand that you like to take things slow, Mr. Gold Doll,”_ she says softly in her own Aussie voice, moving the griffin closer to the doll. “But I can’t hold in my urges for you any longer. I need you.”

 _“Oh, Griffin Belle.”_ She turns the voodoo doll away from the griffin. _“Please try to control yourself.”_

 _“Don’t you want me Mr. Gold Doll?”_ She rests one of the griffins front paws on the doll’s shoulder. _“Don’t you think my wings are sexy?”_

 _“Yes. I love your wings—”_ she turns little Mr. Gold back to face the griffin— _“and you’ve taken me to unbelievable places on them. But Griffin Belle, sex? Do you think we’re ready for that?”_

_“Yes, I do. We’re both two toy adults that know what they want and we should be able to act upon our urges.“_

_“Okay, Griffin Belle.”_

_“Are you sure?”_

_“Yes. I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you. If I said no now, I’d just be denying myself of something I wanted for the longest time.”_

_“Oh, Mr. Gold Doll.”_  Belle presses the toys together in a romantic kiss.

Meanwhile, happening simultaneously in the cubicle across the way, Aindreas feels a push on the back of his neck, drawing his face into the computer screen. “Wh-what?” His lips press against the glass.

_“Oh, Mr. Gold Doll, I’ve always wondered what you’ve been hiding in your pants.”_

_“Wonder no more, dearie. You now have all the access you want.”_

_“Mmm, Mr. Gold Doll.”_ Belle places the griffin’s paw over the suit pants of the voodoo doll and begins massaging.

Aindreas frees his face from the computer screen, mystified by the bizarre force that drew him into it. As he straightened his shirt and peeks over the wall of his cubicle to make sure no one saw him making out with the office equipment, Aindreas suddenly feels something kneading against his crotch. He quickly sits down and tries to brush off what’s crawling around in his pants, but there’s nothing there and the sensation doesn’t stop. Aindreas’ eyes roll in pleasure to the freaky touch and he falls back into the chair. He can’t possibly call out to anyone and reveal to the office what’s happening to him. What the hell would he even say?

Aindreas breathes deeply, but quietly, trying to make sense of that’s happening. His temperature slowly starts to rise as the blood in his body rush to enlarge his manhood.

 _“Oh, Mr. Gold Doll, your body is so beautiful.”_ Belle rubs the griffin’s paw firmer against the doll’s crotch.

“Ungh,” Aindreas grunts and his hips involuntarily buck. He quickly rolls his chair closer to his desk and tries to concentrate on work. Maybe this will all stop if he can only get some work finished. “Okay – okay, what was I doing?”, he heavily breathes, unable to think of anything else but what’s happening in his pants. The sensation is so delicate and slow, but there are times when it’s fast and rough. Those are the moments when his cock intensely throbs. “Oh, gods,” he murmurs, sweat misting on his brow. He surprisingly feels the stroke of a hand graze its fingers through his hair, and at the same time, his balls tremble to the constricting touch around them. “F-fuck.” Aindreas’ hands clench into tight fists. This remarkable sensation is pushing his body over the sexual edge. He tries his best to hide the pleasure on his face, but his body, however, can’t do quite the same. An undeniable pulsation develops at the base of his shaft, signaling the upcoming release. He closes his eyes tightly, knowing what’s about to happen, unable to stop it even if he wanted too. He’s too far into this thing to turn back. So instead of solving all the random math calculations in his head, his thoughts switch to Belle.

Aindreas imagines Belle stroking on his manhood, tenderly licking and sucking on its blushing tip. He can almost feel the moisture of her warm lips around him. “Oh – oh, Belle,” he softly sighs. Thinking of Belle has changed this whole experience and Aindreas is now more aroused than before. He can feel an unbelievable orgasm tingling deep within his core and he gives into it. He doesn’t care if anyone is watching, thankfully no one is. He feels like the only person in the whole office. The sounds of typing and printing from the machines have all faded out. Aindreas can only hear the rhythm of his thumping heart and Belle in his thoughts. “Mmm….”, he hums, as his jaw tightly clutches and his body stiffness. Aindreas’ head falls back and his cock erupts forcibly, expelling thick sticky globs of white cum in his khaki pants.  

Oh, why did he have to dress so casually and wear a light color today?

_“Have you had enough, Mr. Gold Doll?”_

_“No, Griffin Belle. I need to know how it feels to be inside you.”_

Aindreas doesn’t have time to relish in the afterglow of his release. His pants are now massively stained and he needs to get out of them immediately. He gathers up a bunch of files from his desk to cover his throbbing bulge and splotchy pants, then jumps up to his feet. As he makes his hasty escape, holding the files securely against his crotch, Aindreas bumps the swivel chair against the edge of the desk, knocking over his Belle voodoo doll in the process.

“Ahhh!” Belle’s screech rumbles the entire office, as she falls from her chair to the floor.

Ruby and Mary-Margaret rush to Belle’s cubical to assist her and all the attention in the office turn to the fallen secretary.

In all the chaotic commotion, Aindreas notices the male voodoo doll on Belle’s desk in an awkward sexual position with a purple stuffed griffin. Considering what just happened to him, seeing a voodoo doll with his likeness in a provocative scene raises some questions. Normally, Aindreas would try to help Belle in her distress, but she does have a whole army struggling to get her up from the floor. So he turns back to his desk and finds the female doll on the floor. He picks up the doll and rests it in its proper place, and in that time, Belle is instantly upright in her desk chair once again.

“Oh, shit,” he huffs under his breath, eyes broad with shock. He doesn’t know if Belle got up from the floor with the help of her friends— or, by him picking up the doll. But what he does know is that everything is a muddled fucking mess.

Unable to fully process what’s happening, Aindreas focuses on what’s more important and that’s getting as much distance between him and this building as possible. So he continues his escape and dashes home for a change of clothes.


	5. How Does This Thing Work?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aindreas runs to a test.

## Part Five: How Does This Thing Work?

 

The day after the strange events, Aindreas can’t seem to get any work done at his desk. He’s thought about what took place, ever since it happened, replaying the events in his mind over and over. Desperately trying to piece together an incident that unfolded in a split second moment. He’s never felt such a sensation in his life and once he started to think of Belle, the bizarre erotic situation turned extremely pleasurable.

None of the many logical theories Aindreas has thought up fit as well as the one involving the voodoo dolls. He comes to the conclusion that the old man at the magic store was nothing but a deceiver. He doesn’t understand why the man would want something like this to happen. But before he can confront the magic store owner, he needs proof. He needs to see or feel the voodoo doll’s magic again.

Aindreas stares at the Belle doll on his desk, afraid to touch it, afraid to cause the real Belle any more bodily harm.

“You left the office early yesterday and didn’t come back,” Zelena Mills gripes, storming into Aindreas’ cubical. She’s one of the CEO’s of the company and likes to get her hands dirty by handling employees personally.

Aindreas flinches out of his trance. He didn’t expect to see the company witch today. “My apologies, Mrs. Mills,” he forces out his words, hiding the fact that she scared the shit out of him. “Something personal came up and I had to go.”

“You know we’re going to have to dock your pay for yesterday,” she says, shaking her index finger at him like she scolding a naughty cat.

“I understand.”

“And I’m going to need you to come in on Saturday.”

Aindreas blinks, dismayed by the bosses demand. Once he’s gotten proof of the voodoo dolls powers, he was going back to New York on Saturday and get some much-needed answers. “But no one works on Saturday.”

“You do this Saturday—” she places her hands on her hips— “and you’re going to be working on those TPS reports.”

He sighs, quickly stroking his right hand through his hair. “Okay, that’s fine.” He absolutely hates TPS reports. It’s the kind of thing they give to newly hired employees. Now he has to waste a day out of his weekend hammering them out.

Zelena glares at him, lowering her brow. She likes to try to intimidate the employees with a single look. She never wants them to forget who’s writing their checks. “Good!”, she says after the awkward staredown that didn’t intimidate Aindreas at all. He has more urgent things to worry about than his petty boss trying to show dominance. Everyone in the office wishes Regina was the one more hands on with the employees.

Just as Zelena is about to take her leave, the doll resting on Aindreas’ desk catches her attention. “Since when did you start collecting dolls?” She quickly snatches it up.

Aindreas’ heart jumps out of his chest and he stands to his feet. “No, no, don’t touch that it’s a voodoo doll.” He urgently peeks behind Zelena and checks on Belle in her cubicle. She still sits peacefully at her desk and it doesn’t appear as though she’s been violently flung around.

“A voodoo doll?…. Ha!” Zelena holds the doll by the head. “These things don’t work.”

He reaches to yank the doll away from her, but she takes a step back, holding the doll above her head. “Oh, God! Give her back!”, Aindreas’ voice is stricken with panic. If it wasn’t a possibility he’d lose his job, he’d toss his keyboard at her face and snatch the doll out of her grubby witch-like hand.

“You really think something’s gonna happen by me holding this doll?”, she says almost laughing. How could anyone believe such hocus pocus? “No one's—” she holds the doll with both hands— “back—” bends the doll like she’s cracking its spine— “is gonna—” cracks it again— “break.”  She holds the doll by its head and shakes it so that its body smacks itself in the face. “Now get back to work.” Tosses the doll back on the desk. “And don’t be late on Saturday.” She storms out, having gotten her fun for the day.

Aindreas stands motionless, staring at the wall of his cubicle with horror gleaming in his eyes. Belle is dead! How can Zelena do such a disgusting thing to someone else’s voodoo doll? Oh goodness, Belle is dead!

“What was that all about?”

That voice, that unforgettable Aussie accent must be speaking to him from the great beyond.

“Drew? Is everything alright?”

Aindreas’ vision slowly starts to clear and the image of the blurry silhouette becomes more pleasant. Oh, God, it’s Belle! It’s Belle! She’s still alive! He immediately shakes himself out of his daze and tries to hide the fact that he was spooked about her alleged murder. “She – she….” He takes a deep breath, gaining back control of his voice. “She was upset about me leaving yesterday.”

“Yeah, that was strange.” Belle leans against the cubicle wall, crossing her arms. “What happened to you?”

“Something personal popped up and I had to go.”

“I hope everything works out with your personal issue.” She steps to his desk and sits the voodoo doll back in its upright position. Belle thinks Zelena had no right touching his things.

“I’m not sure. I’m still kinda working on it.”

“Oh.” She can see a bit of hopelessness in his eyes and wonders what could have happened to make him leave work abruptly. “Is there anything I can do?” She’d love to help make things easier for him.

“No – no. Umm…. I think I’m okay.” He thinks it’s best to try to solve this on his own. He knows these dolls have something to do with what happened yesterday. He just needs to figure out how they work. “But thank you, Belle, for the offer.”

“Let me know if you need anything from me.”

“I might, but – but not right now.”

“I understand. Just let me know how I can help.” She smiles kindly and steps away from his desk. She hopes that whatever’s bothering him will work out soon. She really wants to ask him on that third date.

“I will, Belle. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She heads down to the employee lounge to get a snack from the vending machine.

Aindreas sits down in his desk chair, face buried in his hands. He’s relieved that nothing heinous occurred when Zelena had her paws all over the doll, but why didn’t anything happen?

As he wallows in a deep pit of despair, Aindreas remembers something the magic store owner said about voodoo dolls. Their magic largely depends on the connection between the one who possess it and the person whose life it was made to change. He starts to think that maybe its powers are only tethered to himself and Belle.

After coming to this conclusion, he now needs to prove this theory as truth. He needs to test it. Aindreas quickly comes up with a plan, but he’s going to need help from someone else in the office.

## •••••••

After some negotiating and coughing up five bucks, Aindreas in lists the assistance of Leroy.

Leroy may be the office drunk, but he doesn’t ask questions. Even if the request is as odd as what Aindreas has asked him to do. With Leroy being the head of maintenance, he has free roam of the building. He can enter any cubicle without anyone asking why he’s there. Which makes him the perfect man to help in this precarious operation.

Aindreas’ plan calls for Leroy to enter his cube while he’s with Belle to make sure nothing happens to her. For all Aindreas knows, the situation with Zelena was just a glitch in the dolls magic and Belle was actually supposed to get maimed and mangled by the way Zelena treated the doll. So when Leroy knocks the doll off of the desk, Aindreas will be behind her to catch her if she falls.

With all the pieces in place to solve this mystery, Aindreas’ plan is now in play. He makes up a lame excuse to stand behind Belle to watch her work and naturally she doesn’t mind having him keep her company. She thinks the light scent of his masculine cologne is welcoming. She could wake up to it every day. She talks to him about what happened to her car the day she was late for work. He listens to her every word and enjoys the sound of her lovely voice, all while trying to keep an eye out for Leroy.

When Leroy enters Aindreas’ cubicle he doesn’t waste any time knocking over the doll. Aindreas’ heart sinks down to his stomach as the doll tumbles to the floor, but nothing happens to Belle and he’s greatly relieved. He then makes up another lame excuse as to why he has to leave her cubicle and quickly slithers out.

Belle thinks his actions are a little odd, but she has seen him do stranger things.

Now that all the work of his paid partner is done, Aindreas must begin step two of his plan. This step he has to do all on his own.


	6. Puppet Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Master! Master!

## Part Six: Puppet Master

 

Finding himself back at his desk, staring into the void of the Belle voodoo doll’s cross stitch eyes, Aindreas is dreading what he’s about to do. He has to put his own hands on the doll and watch Belle closely to see of she mimics his actions.

He still isn’t quite sure of what Belle was doing with his doll twin, but he won’t touch the Belle doll in that manner. He knows that there’s something weird going on with the dolls and that Belle had no idea of the powerful magical forces her hands were wielding. And because of this, he would never touch the doll in a way where Belle would feel violated. So Aindreas has his own way to see the magic first hand and try not to make Belle feel too awkward in the process.

He takes a deep breath and rubs his hands together. If he doesn’t do this now, then they won’t be able to find a way to fix the problem.

## •••••••

Across the hall at the desk filled with miscellaneous wonders, Belle French types up another memo. Actually, it’s the same memo she had typed up last week. Zelena changed her mind, retracted a lot of things that were in the original memo, and had Belle type it up all over again.

While struggling to read Zelena’s sloppy handwriting, Belle starts to feel a breeze kissing her face. She doesn’t sit next to a window, or under an air shaft, or has a fan on her desk, but still there’s a light gust of wind flowing through her hair. Belle doesn’t take much notice of the air hitting her face. She’s more distracted by the faint scent of Aindreas’ cologne that comes with this strange burst of wind.

As he blows on the yarn locks of the Belle voodoo doll, Aindreas is amazed by the sight of the real Belle’s hair flowing in a nearly airtight building. But blowing on Belle’s hair isn’t enough, he needs to see more of this dolls magic. Now he must make Belle do an act that she probably wouldn’t do if he wasn’t playing puppet master.

Belle feels a peculiar sensation around her wrist and her right arm slowly starts to rise on its own.

The looks on Belle’s face as her hand finds its place on the top of her head is a vital sign that she is not in control of her actions. Aindreas quickly ends this little act of puppetry with the cherry on top of his sundae of magical proof.

Belle taps herself on the head three times as she suddenly boops her nose with her left hand. “Okay, what the hell?”, she huffs under her breath and the pull on her arms subsidies.

Aindreas pushes himself away from his desk and the voodoo doll, as amazement and disbelief ripple through his body. He just witnessed the dolls powerful magic with his own eyes and he can’t deny what he’s seen or what he’s done. The theory in his head has just been proven as fact.

There’s one more thing he has to do now before he heads back to the magic store in New York, and that’s to tell Belle what he’s discovered. She must know of the power they both possess, but how will he tell her?


	7. I Know This May Sound Batty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Telling the truth can be hard.

## Part Seven: I Know This May Sound Batty

The days at work seem to drag for Aindreas Gold. Knowing what he knows about these dolls is a heavy secret to carry. Not understanding why this has happened only makes things worse. He needs to tell Belle about what he’s discovered, but he’s afraid of the outcome. There are two possibilities the situation could go when admitting to someone you adore that you did, in fact, hand her a magically cursed doll.

In one direction, she could think he’s insane and choose to never speak to him again. She’ll give him back the doll and ask to have her desk moved as far away from him as she can get. He’ll be officially dubbed the office freak and absolutely no one would ever talk to him.

In the other direction, Belle actually believes him. They try to find a way to fix this together so that they can go on living their completely loveless solitary lives. They’ll keep greeting each other in passing. And continue to share the occasional glance from behind the screens of their computers.

Aindreas is hoping for option two to be the way things play out, but he knows this situation is fifty/fifty.

After trying to avoid Belle and being extremely careful not to disrupt the doll on his desk, another long day of work comes to an end for Aindreas. Also coming to an end, are all the efforts he took to stealthily dodge Belle throughout the day. She enters his cubicle without warning.

“Aindreas,” she says timidly, clutching her white leather purse against her chest.

Caught in the middle of trying to make his escape home, Aindreas freezes like a deer caught in high beam light. All the color on his face drains out, leaving his skin ghostly pale. He wasn’t ready to see her. He wanted to be the one to come to her when he found the right way to spill the truth from his lips. But her voice. The sound of her voice and the way she said his name changes his emotions from wanting to jump out of his skin- to compassion.

“Yes, Belle,”  he answers, double-clicks the button that logs him out of the computer. The system shuts down as he looks up at her. Her eyes are so attractive and they instantly draw him into them, but he notices that there’s worry in them. Now he knows for sure that there’s something wrong.

“I tried to talk myself out of doing this, but I couldn’t.”

“Talk yourself out of doing what?”, he asks, tipping his head to the right.

She steps closer to his desk and her shoulders slumping a little. “Have I—” she licks her lips, slightly turning her head away from him— “done something to upset you?”

His dark chocolate eyes widen and he stands from his desk chair. “What?”, he says, dumbfounded by her thought. How could those words fall from her gorgeous lips?

“You’ve been short and distant from me these few days. I started thinking that maybe I did something that rubbed you the wrong way. I know that you’ve been having some personal problems and that I shouldn’t have made this about me. Which is why I tried to stop myself from asking,” she speaks honestly. Every word she says is hard, but she needs to clear the air between them. “When you gave me the dolls and spent time with me in my cube, I thought, maybe, things between us was starting to change into something more. Then everything just shifted and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

His heart crushes with every word she speaks. He’s made her feel self-conscious about their relationship. “No – no, Belle,” he tries to assure her, gliding from behind his desk and stands before her on the other side. “You didn’t do anything. It was me. I’m the one that did something.”

“You?”

“Yes, me.”

“What did you do?” Belle blinks, trying to think of something he could have done to her. She understands that his personal issues could cause a change in his behavior. Finding out why this sudden change has occurred is the reason she’s here.

As Aindreas mentally prepares himself to reveal the cause of his actions, every other fluorescent light above the office begins going out. Co-workers take their leave to spend the weekend at home. Aindreas and Belle slowly become the only two people on the floor.

“For starters, I made you feel this way,” he confesses. “You feel like you’ve done something wrong and you didn’t. That was my fault.”

“Drew, it’s okay. I just shouldn’t have—.”

“No, it isn’t okay,” he cuts her off mid-sentence. “I should have told you when I found out, but I just let it take a hold of me. I let it make me change the way I treated you, but I was afraid to tell you.”  

“What are you afraid to tell me?” She lays her purse on his desk and cups his cheek. His skin is so soft, no roughness of stubble. “You can tell me anything. I want you to know that I really mean it.”

He closes his eyes and melts into her warm tender touch. It’s the first time she’s ever grazed her hand upon his cheek. This must be how it feels in paradise. “I’m going to show you, Belle,” he says hushed, opening his eyes. He takes a deep breath and carefully picks up the Belle voodoo doll.

Belle looks on perplexed. What does this toy have to do with how they’re feeling?

He gazes down upon the doll’s cross stitched eyes and soothingly brushes its cheek.

Belle takes in a rapid sharp breath, resting her hand on her left cheek. “What was that?”, she says breathily.

He swallows hard, delaying the moment that he’s feared of becoming the present. Not knowing how she will react is what scares him most. “It was me, Belle,” he divulges.

“You?” She glances at his hands on the doll and focuses back on his eyes. She doesn’t know what’s happening, but the sensation on her cheek was impossible. “How can I feel you and you didn’t touch me?”

“You can feel me because I touched the doll.” He gently places the doll in her hands. He isn’t comfortable having this power over her. “The dolls are…. They’re umm….”

“They’re what?” She urges to know the words that are stuck on his tongue. What she felt on the cheek gave her a sense of the supernatural.

“Th–they’re real, Belle,” he stutters, finally declaring the truth. “Their powers are real.”

“Real?” She tries to grasps her thoughts around the notion.

“Yes, sweetheart.” He isn’t sure why he called her that, but it felt right in the moment. “I don’t know why this is happening or how, but whenever we touch the dolls, the other can feel it. It only works with you and me.”

Her eyes expand even wider in a state of incredulity, as she takes a step back from him. “What?”

“I know how this sounds, Belle, it’s crazy, I know,” he says sincerely. Hoping that she understands, hoping that she doesn’t take this as a way of him trying to hurt her. “But I’m telling you the truth. I can’t bring myself to lie to you about something this insane.” He tries to close the divide between them, but she steps away again. He understands that she needs time to comprehend what’s happening. He knows how his words may sound to her. So, he lets her have her space. “I want you to know that this is what’s been bothering me. Not you. This is what’s been my personal problem and I didn’t know how to tell you. Which is why I’ve been acting like an ass, but I didn’t want to hurt you. I promise you that. I’d never want to hurt you, Belle.”

She clutches the doll against her chest and her cheeks flare a bright crimson, trying to organize her complexed emotions. She gazes at his face, sensing only compassion in his features, a part of her instantly wants to believe him. She’s never known anyone to look at her that way when they’re lying. Belle takes several ruffled breaths before finally replying, “How do you know all this?”

“I tested it,” he explains more truth. “The other day when I was standing in your cube, I had Leroy go into mine and knock over my doll. I was with you to catch you in case you fell again.”

“Fell?…. Again?”

“Yes, Belle,” he answers forthwith. He doesn’t want to setback any questions she might have. She needs to understand and know everything that he does.  “You fell out of your chair the other day because of me. I accidentally knocked the doll to the floor.”

“Was that—” slowly shakes her head— “was that the day you left work early?”

“Yes, Belle, it was.”

She thinks about that moment when her chair unexpectedly tipped and what she was doing before it happened. “Oh, shit!” She drops the doll and covers her mouth with both hands, realizing what she’s done.

He quickly catches the doll before it hit the floor. He doesn’t know how the magic works if she harmed the doll that looked like herself. But he isn’t taking any chances.

“You felt it that day, didn’t you?”, she asks, body trembling with shock.

“Yes, Belle, but it wasn’t that unpleasant?” He shrugs, handing her back the doll.

“This isn’t a time for jokes, Drew!” She snatches the doll from his hand and looks down upon it. Why did she have to play with the doll in such a vulgar way? “I – I’m so sorry,” she whimpers more calmly, didn’t mean to snap at him. She goes to cup his cheek but she holds her hand back. She feels as though she’s already touched him enough. “I didn't—” she sniffs— “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I thought I was just playing with my doll.” Her grip around the Belle doll tightens as she holds it against her chest. “I didn’t – I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Belle. I’m not upset with you and I know you didn’t know.” He closes the wide gap between them and takes her left hand into his. He knows she wanted to touch him before and he needs to show her that it’s okay. “I didn’t mean for my reply to seem like a joke, but it really wasn’t unpleasant.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No,” he confesses honestly. Though he was alarmed and shocked by the encounter at first, the situation swiftly changed once he thought about Belle. Now that he knows that the phantom presence really was her, it somehow felt right. “Once I started thinking of you, it became quite beautiful.”

She takes pause, didn’t foresee that she’d hear that word. “Beautiful?”

“I’ve never felt anything like it before. When it finally came to me, later that day, that you actually wanted to do those things with me, it made me feel….” He stops his train of thought. What he wants to say is something he thinks might upset her more.

“How did that make you feel? I want to know.”

He slowly skims his thumb over the top of her hand, delaying his answer for a moment. “I felt like – like how could a beautiful, smart, woman think of a quite, old, accountant that way?”, he finally says, suppressing the emotion choked in his voice. “How could she want me to do such things with her? I don’t deserve her thoughts. But she did think of me and I thought about her too and we thought about each other at the exact same time. Realizing that gave me a little sense of euphoria that you might actually want me in your life. But that happiness was outweighed by the fear of what you would think when you found out the truth.”

Belle laces their fingers together and takes a step closer to him. “You really feel that way?…. You care about me?”

“Yes, Belle. I care about you immensely and I think I should have told you that a long time ago,” his voice sounds soulful and pure.

Belle turns her head away from him, nibbling on her bottom lip. She can see it on his face and hear it in his voice that he’s telling nothing but the truth. But she still needs a little more insurance that what happened when she touched the Mr. Gold doll was okay. She felt like a monster when she realized what she actually did. “You’re really not upset with me?” Her chin wobbles as she speaks, holding back the tears burning in her eyes. It feels as though she’s waited a lifetime to hear that he cares for her too. But she can’t be overjoyed with the knowledge. She thinks that what she’s done has ruined the validation that her feelings for him weren’t just one-sided.

“No, Belle, I wasn’t,” he assures her. Neither of them knew of the power they both held. “I know you had no ideas what you were doing, what you had. And even if you did, I’d probably welcome you to it.” A half smile curls at the corner of his lips.

A soft giggle escapes her lips. She didn’t predict such a heartfelt expression with his reply, but he gave the answer she needed. “Thank you.” She sniffs again.

“For what?” He always had a sense that it was his job to make her feel better and he doesn’t need to be thanked for it.

“For telling me the truth and that care for me, because I care about you too.” A heavy weight lifts when she speaks those words. “I know it sounds strange, but I started to care about you very quickly from when you started working here. I’d watch you from my desk and I saw so many things in you that you really don’t show to anyone. I saw your great capability to care for others. You try to hide it in the office, but I’ve seen it many times when your son comes to visit you. I wanted to be a part of that and show you that someone else can care for you just as much…. Anyway, everything you’ve said made me feel a whole lot better about what happened with the doll. That’s what I was thanking you for.

“Oh, Belle.“ His teary eyes expand. "Why is it that we’ve never told each other these things?”

“I don’t know. I guess we were both just afraid.”

He pulls her a little closer to him. He always felt like his true self around her. Like he could demolish the walls that he has built to protect himself from others. But whenever they’re together, a little bit chips away. “Well, right now, I’m not afraid and I don’t think it’s strange that you cared about me. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but there was something about you that instantly attracted me to you.”

“Really?” She dries the tear falling from her cheek.

“Yes, sweetheart, really. I would never to lie to you about that.”

Knowing that they both had this early draw to the other, makes them feel at ease and more secure about their emotions.

Belle rests the female doll upright on his desk and gazes at it. Thinking of how a small bundle of cloth can make such an impact on two people’s lives. The magical toys caused them to place a lot more cards on the table than they were ever truly expecting to do on their own. Aindreas and Belle’s emotions for each other run a lot deeper than they both thought. And these dolls are in some way a connection to that. Now they need to know how and why.

Belle suddenly treads to her cubicle and fetches the little doll that resembles Aindreas. Then comes back to his cube. “I want you to have Mr. Gold Doll back.” She glances down at the doll in her hand, gently stroking its hair, not realizing that Aindreas can feel every caress of her fingers. When the thought comes back to her, she gazes up at him and witnesses his hair fluffing to her stroke. “I’m sorry,” she says with a heavy breath, handing him the doll.

“It’s okay, Belle.” Her touch is something he’s always welcomed. “But – but you don’t want him anymore?”, he asks. He thought that maybe she could keep it, maybe he could trust her with it.

“I do—” she sits the doll, face to face, in front of Belle Doll— “but I can’t keep him until we figure out why this has happened to us. I don’t want control over you, Drew.”

“I understand,” he replies. Neither of them wants power over the other, which is a great sign of their mutual respect. “I was going to go back to New York tomorrow and talk to the guy that sold me the dolls, but I have to work.”

“It’s alright. We can go after your shift.”

“Wait.” His face illuminates with surprise. Did she just say we? “You want to go with me, Belle?”

“Of course I do,” she answers with a giggle. The way his features lit up was the most adorable thing she’s witnessed all day.

“Alright,” he replies, nodding. The thought of her going to New York with him makes his heart dance.

Silence falls between them as they stand before each other, shyly grinning at the other with their hands behind their backs. Neither of them truly know what to do or say next. They’re both just greatly anticipating the trip to New York together. However, the dolls on the desk have a solution to their frozen in the moment problem.

Mr. Gold Doll, being the last doll to be touched, slowly tips forward with the force of gravity. Eventually, resting his stitched lips upon his lost mate, Belle Doll.

Aindreas and Belle both feel the magic pulling them together and they find themselves in a long-awaited first kiss.

“Mmm….” Belle sighs, feeling a rush of energy flowing through her body. She’s never felt a kiss so electrifying.

Aindreas’ lips tingle to the taste of hers and he closes his eyes, dissolving himself in this moment.

The dolls fall over on the desk, but Aindreas and Belle don’t stop kissing.

She buries her hands in his smooth silvery locks, gently scratching his scalp. “Do you—” she nips at his pouty bottom lip— “feel that?”

“Yes, I do,” he murmurs upon her moist soft flesh, peeking at the dolls laying in each other’s arms.

She breaks away from his kiss and strokes her thumb across his bottom lip. “Was that the doll’s magic?”

“No, Belle.” He cuts his eyes at the dolls again. “I think that was ours.” He hugs her tightly.

“Mmm….”, she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. Being in his arms feels like home. “I like our magic.”

“So do I.” His hands slide down to the small of her back and he rests his cheek against her head.

“I want to feel more.”

He lifts his head and longs into her deep blue eyes. He loves the way they smile at him, her face is filled with so much endearment. “You want our second kiss already?”

“Yes. I’m greedy.” She treats him with a flash of her bright pearly whites.

“I’m greedy too.” He licks his lips and kisses her again. Their connection is just as intense as the first.

Belle parts her lips hoping to feel a bit of him inside.

He takes her up on the sweet offer, slipping in just the tip of his tongue.

Belle gently breaks off the kiss and their lips pull away like they’re hungry for another. Her nose lightly brushes over his bottom lip when she lays her head back on his shoulder. “That was just as magical as the first.”

“I agree.”

They hold each other in a comfortable silence. Thinking about everything that has just transpired. Is this the beginning of something great? Is this how their friendship evolves to the next step?

“What do we do from here?”, Belle asks, breaking the silence between them.

“I don’t know, Belle. I feel like I’ve just found you after being lost for so long and I don’t want to let you go.”

“I thought I was the only one feeling that.”

“You’re not, sweetheart.” He holds the back of her head and dips his nose in her hair, taking in the scent of her shampoo. Is that roses?

“I know you like to take things slow—” she lifts her head from his shoulder— “but I have to tell you what I’m feeling.”

“What is it?”

“Well,” she pauses, but she feels he needs to know. “We both know what I did with your doll the other day. So, it really isn’t a secret what I wouldn’t mind doing right now.”

He tips his head slightly to the right. No, that wasn’t really a secret now. “You want to have sex, Belle?”  

“I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, but I just have this feeling of wanting more of you,” she explains. Her need for him grew greater with their kiss. “Somehow it all feels wrong and right at the same time.”

“Wanting sex can feel that way and that’s okay.” He takes a lock of her hair resting on her shoulder and twists his finger around the silky strand. “I do normally like to take things slow, but with you, I don’t know, I have this ravenous to be with you.”

“You do?”

“Yes, Belle, and I think that’s what you’re feeling too.

“It is.”

“But it might be best that we don’t act on these urges.”  He’s afraid that without knowing why the dolls came to them, they might regret sleeping together now. They’ve admitted their true feeling for each other and he thinks that more than enough. “Everything has been emotional and I don’t think that sex is right for us right now. Especially with what’s happening with the dolls. We don’t really know how they work and this could all just be their magic.”

“You’re right,” she agrees wholeheartedly. “We desperately need some answers.”

“Hopefully we’ll get them tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She rests her head on chest.

Aindreas kisses the crown of her head and observes the office around them. They were so involved with each other that he never noticed the exact moment when they became the only two people on the floor. “I think we might be alone here.” He kisses her head again and again. He can’t get enough of the sensation of his lips touching some part of her body. It’s intoxicating.

Her hand rubs his chest through the jacket of his black pin-striped suit, feeling his body underneath. He’s a lot softer than she imagined, but she still adores the feel of his 55-year-old body, especially his belly. “I’ve been here this late before,” she says as her hand continues to explore him. “I think we are.”

“We should probably head home then.”

“Yeah. You must get home every day at the same time.” Her right hand travel up to his shoulder and slips around to cup the nape of his neck. “Your son must be worried about you.”

“I don’t think so,” he guffawed at his reply. “He’ll be fourteen in a few weeks and he’s really been enjoying his independence.”

“He sounds like such a teenager,” she snickers.

“He is, but he’s a great kid.”

“I can imagine he is,” Belle sighs peacefully. Even though they’re standing in their workplace, she could still stay this way with him forever. “I really don’t want to go home yet, but I guess I have nothing else to do.” She shrugs.

He gets a sense that her comment is pushing for an invitation. And since she was the one to ask him out twice, he thinks it’s time for him to step up. “If you want—” he licks his lips, still tasting her lip balm upon them— “you can come to my place.”

She gazes up at him, beaming with delight. “Really?” She was hoping he’d say something like that.

“Mmhmm.” He nods. “You can meet Bae and we can cook you dinner. He loves to cook. We can even watch a movie. Bae has lots of theater shows on DVD. And if you don’t like musicals, I have a lot of my own videos to choose from.”

She laughs lightly, skin glowing with joy, can’t stop smiling. She thought she’d be the one asking for the third night out together. “That sounds amazing.” She boops his nose with her dainty finger. Always wanted to do that from the moment she saw him. “I’d love too.”

“Excellent.” He chuckles to her playful little gesture. “This could be our third date.”

“I was going to say that.”

“Well, I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

“I’ll just grab our friends and my purse, then we can leave this stuffy old office.”

“Our friends?”, he asks.

“The dolls. You weren’t going to leave them here, were you?”

“I didn’t really want to touch them much.”

“I can understand that, but I think it’s best that we take them. Even though nothing happens with anyone else touches them, we should still keep them close.”  

“Okay, Belle. You’re right about that.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll hold them. We’ll take them to your place and I’ll put them in a safe spot for you. That is if you can you trust me with them.”

“Yes, Belle, I can trust you.” They’re in this thing together after all. There’s no one else he’d rather be tethered to a cure with.

“Okay.” She turns to the desk and picks up her purse, swinging the leather strap around her shoulder. Then carefully lifts the dolls, holding them against her like one of her precious old books.

“After you, Belle.” He steps to the lift, allowing her to go ahead of him.

“Thank you,” she says grateful and starts walking out of the cubical. “Wait.” She stops all of a sudden. “Something isn’t right.”

“What’s wrong?”, he asks with worry on his face.

She smirks and slowly lifts the right arm of the Mr. Gold doll and drapes it over the little Belle.

Aindreas’ body instantly responds to the magical demand and wraps his right arm around Belle’s shoulder.

“That’s better,” she comments, kisses his cheek with a bubbly giggle.

“So this how you wanted to walk out?” He arches a brow.

“Yep,” she admits, snuggling underneath his arm. “I didn’t see it happening any other way.”

“Well, I like it.”

“Good.” She wraps her free arm around his back and they both make their way out of the building. Ready to spend the night together with a home cooked meal and musical theater.


	8. You’ve Upset The Balance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There may or may not doll revenge.

## Part Eight: You’ve Upset The Balance

Belle had spent the entire night at Aindreas and Baelor Gold’s apartment. Watching so many theater shows she’s never seen or heard of kept their time together running into the late hours. Aindreas didn’t mind at all and offered Belle a change of clothing left behind by his ex-wife. He also offered her his bed to sleep in while he shared one with his son for the night. But neither of them made it to their separate rooms. They both ended up just crashing on the couch.

The voodoo dolls spent the night together as well. Snug and safe on the bay window in the living room.

Come morning, Belle is pleasantly awoken by the warmth of the early sun kissing her cheek and the savory aroma of peppered smoked bacon. She rises from the couch to meet up with her gracious hosts, finding only Aindreas in the kitchen.

“Good morning, Belle,” he greets her, removing the last strip of bacon from the pan. She may have just stumbled through the door like the walking dead and her hair is disheveled, but he still thinks she beautiful.

“Good morning,” she replies yawning, rubbing her eyes.

“Aww, that was adorable,” he says smiling as he sits two plates down at the kitchen table. “I hope you like bacon and lemon ricotta pancakes.”

“I love bacon and I’ve never had lemon ricotta pancakes before, but I’m sure I’ll love them too.”

“Great.” He pulls out the wood chair from under the table. “Have a seat.”

“Thank you.” She shuffles to the table and sits in the chair.

“You’re most welcome,” he says taking his place next to her.

She pours herself a glass of orange juice from the cold pitcher. “I hope it’s not presumptuous—” rests the pitcher back in the center of the table— “to assume that we’re alone.”

“It isn’t and we are.” He covers his pancakes with a bit of syrup. “Bae spends every other weekend with his mother. Which is actually good this weekend, since we’re going to New York later today. I didn’t really want to drag him along.”

“Yeah, I understand why you wouldn’t.” She takes a sip from her glass. “I had a lot of fun last night. Bae is such an extraordinary child and it was amazing to see the way you nurture his interests.”

“I just really love my son.”

“I know you do and it’s beautiful.” Belle feels honored to have had a chance to see an intimate part to his life. “Thank you for inviting me over.”

“You’re welcome.” He blushes. Aindreas never fathom to hear such sweet words this morning. “You can stay here if you like, while I work today.” He cuts through his short stack with a fork. “You can keep an eye on the dolls for us.”

“Umm… I was thinking I could go to work with you.”

“What? Why?”

“We don’t know when the store in New York closes and those TPS reports are a pain in the ass. I know Zelena is going to make you do as many as she can.” She brings a strip of bacon to her lips and takes a bite. “I’ve been doing those reports a lot longer than you and I’m faster. So I’m going in to help and get us out of there so we can head to New York as soon as we can.”

“You don’t have to do that, Belle.”

“I want too,” she says with a mouth full of bacon. “It was my fault you left work early that day. Let me do this to help you.”

“Zelena isn’t going to pay you for your time. I don’t think she’s paying me.”

“She’s paying you something, she has too, and I don’t care if I don’t get paid. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve worked for the company for free. I’m only doing this to help you anyway. Not them.”

Aindreas takes her hand and squeezes it lightly. There’s nothing he can say to make her change her mind. “Alright, Belle.”

“Great!” She finally cuts into her pancakes and notices the time on the oven. “Oh—” fills her mouth with sweet fluffy breakfast— “we should hurry up. We have to stop at my place first.”

“Okay.”

After they each devour their morning meal, Aindreas quickly changes and packs a few personal items just in case they miss the open hours of the magic shop. He’ll need a few things in case if they have to stay in New York for the night.

Belle goes to gather the dolls on their way out of the apartment and notices something different about them. “Umm, Drew?”, she calls, as he swings his suit jacket around his shoulders.

“Yes?”, he answers, buttoning the jacket.

“I thought you weren’t touching the dolls.”

“I’m not and I haven’t.”

“Then how did their little rope get wrapped around their arms again?”

“What?” He meets her by the bay window where the dolls have rested all night.

“See.” She shows him the doll’s arms and sure enough, their linked back together with a thin rope.

“I didn’t do that, Belle.” He leans in closer to the dolls, observing their strange position on the seat of the bay window.

“Someone did because I didn’t.” She crosses her arms, shifting her weight to the left. “Could it have been Bae?”

“No, it wasn’t him either.”  He stands up straight. “Look—” points at the arms of the dolls— “it’s the same rope they had around them when I gave them to you. You kept that rope. It never came to my house.”

“Shit!” She cups her hands around her mouth in a state of shock. “You’re right,” mutters through her fingers.

“What do you think this means?”

“I have no ideas, but we need to get to work now so we can go to New York and find out.”

“I agree.” He nods. “Are you still comfortable with carrying them?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then, let’s go.”

Belle gently takes the dolls in her arms and they quickly journey out of the refurbished victorian. They make a pit stop at Belle’s apartment above the Storybrooke library. So she can change her clothes and pack a few things for the trip. After that, they finally head to the uninhibited office to spend the better half of their Saturday with Zelena Mills and TPS reports.

**•••••••**

Aindreas and Belle step off of the office elevator together linked arm in arm exactly like their dolls. They’re ready to get as many reports done so they can make the trip to New York and get some much-needed answers.

Zelena storms out of her personal office the instant she saw Aindreas wasn’t alone. “What is this?”, she gripes, stopping in front of them and crosses her arms.

“What’s what?”, Aindreas asks, confused about why their boss would be so hostile.

“What is she doing here?”, she stares daggers at Belle’s arm around her fellow co-worker’s. She’s heard rumors about their awkward flirting around the office, but she never thought there would be anything solid behind it.

“I’m here to help him, Mrs. Mills,” Belle answers, unhooking her arm from Aindreas. Zelena is making her uncomfortable by the way she keeps gawking. “I know how tedious those TPS reports can be. No one should really do them on their own.”

“Well, I didn’t invite you here.”

“Invite?” Aindreas’ eyes nearly pop out of his skull. Since when did _‘you need to come in on Saturday’_ and _‘you better not be late’_  become an invitation? “Mrs. Mills, you ordered me to be here.”

“That’s beside the point. You were supposed to be alone.”

“What exactly is the importance of me coming in alone?”

She stares at him frozen, blue eyes fuming blood red. “Nothing!”, she yells, stomping her leather clad boot on the hardwood floor. “It doesn’t matter now because she ruined it!”

“What?”, Aindreas and Belle both say in unison, tipping their heads to the right.

Seeing them together in a perfectly synced action makes Zelena’s blood volcanic. “Get to work!” She matches back to her office, slamming the glass door behind her.

Aindreas and Belle glance at each other, puzzled by Zelena’s intentions.

“She didn’t even tell us where to find the reports,” Belle comments irritated by Zelena already . And all they did was walk into the office. She wants to get as much work finished so they can get as far away from this place as possible. But Zelena has stalled them.

“I know.” He turns to Belle and takes both of her hands, attempting to calm her frustrations. “You go ahead to see if the rope you took off the dolls is still on your desk. So we can know if the one they have now is the same.”

“Alright,” she says more composed. “But I doubt that it’s still there.”

“I know, sweetheart, but we need to make sure.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll go ask Zelena where we can find the reports. The sooner we get those done, the better.”

“Good luck with her,” she says with an attitude of vexation.

Aindreas chuckles with a crooked smile. “Thanks.” Kisses the back of both of her hands and paces to Zelena’s office.

Upon entering the boss’ personal office, Aindreas walks into an unsettling display.

Zelena’s desk is dressed to the nines with a white tablecloth, white napkins, and crystal wine glasses. All set up for a romantic candle lite lunch for two of rustic Scottish meat pies, potatoes, and a fine bottle of red wine.

“Mrs. Mills?” Aindreas’ jaw drops to the floor, realizing why she said invite instead of order. “No,” he says clearly, shaking his head.

“No, what?”, she barks back, stomping up to the door.

“There was no way I was going to sit here and have lunch with you.”

Can she be serious? If Aindreas had to choose which boss to have a romantic lunch with it surely wouldn’t be her. He’d pick Regina every single time. Zelena has been nothing but mean, nasty and vindictive to almost everyone working under her. There have been numerous attempts to get her to sell her shares of the company to her sister, but she’s been nothing but a stubborn fucking mule.

“If you didn’t bring that secretary, you would have,” Zelena argues with the utmost confidence. She’s had her hungry eyes on the little timid Scotsmen ever since the day Regina hired him. This was her chance to have him all to herself and make her move on him, but now it’s been ruined by the mediocre secretary. Fuck! Fuck! Fucking! FUCK!!

“No. I wouldn’t have,” he states boldly but stays respectful. “You ordered me to come in on my day off. You disrespected the things on my desk. And now you expect me to sit down and have a nice lunch with you? No. That’s not how this was going to go, Mrs. Mills.”

Zelena takes several deep breathes and sighs them out, bring herself to a more siren state of mind. “I was going to apologize to you about the doll.”

“You can still apologize, Mrs. Mills, but that isn’t going to change the fact that I wouldn’t eat lunch with you.”

“Fine—” she rests her hands on her hips, taking a few steps back— “then you won’t get an apology.”

“That’s alright.” He never expected a real apology from her anyway. “I only came in here to ask you where I can find the reports.”

“I’m not going to tell you that either.”

“It’s alright too.” He doesn’t want to give her any grounds for him or Belle to be fired. He thinks it’s best to stay and do a few reports so nothing about the day can be twisted to any vengeful plans she may try to pull later on down the line. “I’m sure Belle and I can find them. We’ll have them ready for you as soon as we can, Mrs. Mills,” he states calmly and closes the door on his way out.

Zelena swings open her office door and stands underneath the threshold, glaring at the only two employees in the building. She poses with her hands on her hips, breathing heavily. Rejection was not supposed to be in her cards today.

Belle pops her head up from behind the wall of her cubicle, imitating the actions of a prairie dog emerging from its hole in the ground. She heard Zelena’s office door hit the wall when she flung it open again. “Drew, what’s with her?”

“She’s like a rabid animal,” he hisses, marching speedily to Belle’s cube, using all the will within him not to peek back. “It’s best not to look at her,” he speaks just loud enough for only Belle can hear. “We’re on our own on finding the reports. We’ll do a few and get the hell out of here.”

Belle doesn’t heed his word and cuts her eyes at Zelena. Thankfully all she does is slam the door shut. “What happened in there?”, she asks, after a frightened jolt.

“I’ll tell you later.” He doesn’t want Belle’s mind focused on what happened in the boss’ office. They both already have enough to worry about.

“Okay, well, I didn’t find the rope on my desk.”

He stands beside her, closing the drawers she left open. “I didn’t think you would because the dolls already have it.”

Belle takes pause, thinking of the forces that took place in order for the dolls to repossess the rope. “Drew—” her eyes grow wide with realization— “if they can take a rope from here and get it to your place, what the hell else can they do?”

Aindreas quickly rubs her arms and shoulders, keeping her from slipping into a state of panic. “I don’t have an answer to that, Belle.”

“Do you think it’s safe to leave them in your car?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart, I think so. I think it might be possible that they can summon the rope because it belongs them?” He shrugs, knowing all too well that he’s just making up shit on the spot. “They don’t move, at least, none that I’ve seen.” He isn’t quite sure about that statement either. When he and Belle shared their first kiss, he doesn’t think the dolls found themselves in that position just by the earth’s gravitational pull. Aindreas sighs, clearing his mind. They really shouldn’t try to analyze this at the moment. They need to get out of the office building so that they can discuss the important situation at hand. Focusing on one thing at a time is what’s best. “Come on, Belle.” He takes her by the hand. “Let’s – let’s just find those reports.”

“Okay. I think I know where to look.”

After a search through a few file drawers in the storage room the employees have named The Library, (It’s where all the physical paperwork of the past 30 years have been stored. Mostly documents that couldn’t be digitized.) Aindreas and Belle are elbows deep in article 23, specter 47 of their first TPS report.

“Ugh!” Aindreas moans, dropping the thick textbook of the report on his desktop. “They really have people do this on their own?”

“Yep.” She gets up from her desk and stands behind him in his cubicle.

“I like numbers, but this amount of work for one person is insane.” He rubs his eyes. They feel dry after starting at the tiny texts. “How many times have you done this?” He bends his head back, gazing up at her. She’s like the angle of paperwork starting down on him, preparing her wings for the flight that will whisk him away.

She places her hands on his shoulders and massages out the cramps she knows he has from sitting at the desk for so long. “Twice,” she answers.

“Ahhhh! Get the fuck off of me!” Zelena’s chilling screams suddenly fill the peaceful office.

Aindreas instantly jumps up from his chair. He and Belle watch the door view what happens next.

“Fuck! Fuck!”, Zelena hysterically stumbles out of the office. Her once perfectly styled red hair is now in disorder.

“Are you alright, Mrs. Mills?”, Aindreas and Belle both ask at the same time.

“I don’t know what kind of kinks you two are into!” Zelena thunders down the row of cubicles. “Voodoo is a bunch of sheep’s shit!” She stops at the only cube occupied by employees. “But that creepy little doll that was on your desk—” she viciously points at Aindreas— “is in my office!”

Aindreas and Belle’s eyes enlarge with disbelief and they turn to each other. “What?”, they once again say in sync.

“I’d wish you’d stop doing that!”, she demands, sick to death of all their perfectly timed responses. “You—” slithers up to his desk— “get that thing out of my office!”

“What…. Umm….” He knows the dolls are locked in his trunk. He and Belle made sure of that. How can they be on the second floor of this building? “What did it do, Mrs. Mills?”, he asks with genuine concern.

“Don’t patronize me. I know what I saw and felt,” she yelps, spit misting from her crimson patented lips. “It jumped out of my closet and attacked me!”

“He’s not patronizing you. He’s really worried,” Belle chimed in, defending the man she’d like to call her boyfriend. “But his doll isn’t even in the building, Mrs. Mills. It’s out in his car.”

She’s just experienced one of the most terrifying things in her life and now her honestly is being questioned? “Are you calling me a liar?”, Zelena snaps.

Belle chooses not to answer that question.

Zelena leans on the desk in Aindreas’ face. “Does it looks like I’m lying?”

He chooses not to answer as well.

“Good!” She takes their silence as agreement. “Now go exterminate that thing from my office!” She slams her fist on the desk.

“Yes, ma'am,” they say in unison again, shuffle out of Aindreas’ cube together and stand just outside of Zelena’s open office door.

“Drew?” Belle slowly turns her head to him.

“I know what you’re thinking, Belle.” He takes her trembling hand. “Please don’t say it.”

“This is insane.”

“Belle, you just said it.”

“One of us had too.”

“Come on, let’s just find it and get it out of there.”

They step inside Zelena’s office finding the desk has been cleared and the closet door open. They search every corner of the space and find no sign of Belle Doll or Mr. Gold Doll.

“Did you find it?” Zelena abruptly enters the room.

“No. We didn’t,” Belle answers, standing up from behind the boss’ desk.

“You two better not be fucking with me.”

“No, ma'am, we wouldn’t mess with you like that,” Aindreas says calmly, keeping a level of professionalism. “We both like our jobs and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize them. I’ve only been in your office once today, you were here with me, and this is the first time Belle has been here today. Other than then, and now, we’ve been out there working. ”

“If I find out you had anything to do with what happened….” She takes a pause in the middle of another one of her frivolous rants. Nothing has gone according to her plans. She didn’t get the lunch she wanted and didn’t really need any TPS reports done today. There’s no reason for her to stay in the office on a Saturday just to watch these two clowns flirting and doing pointless work. “Just get out!” She changes the direction of her raving dialog. She also doesn’t want to deal with whatever the hell jumped out of her closet. She needs to go home, take a warm bath, and drink some wine to forget about this petrifying day. “Get out! Get off of my floor! Get out of my building! I don’t want to see your face till Monday!”

This sudden change in the boss’ comments, strikes the curiosity in Belle and it gets the better of her. “But why?”, she asks without thinking.

Zelena’s flesh burns a million times hotter than the sun.

Aindreas quickly dashes up to Belle and takes her by the left hand. “Don’t question it, sweetheart,” he says softly, cutting his eyes at Zelena. She looks red hot enough for her boots to scorch a whole though the hardwood floor. “Let’s just go.” He gently gives Belle a little tug and she follows behind him. “Thank you, Mrs. Mills,” he adds, as they scurry out the door. “You have a lovely weekend.”

“Just get out!”


	9. The Most Powerful Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seeking the answers.

## Part Nine: The Most Powerful Magic

After making their escape from the office building, Aindreas and Belle checked the trunk of his black Cadillac. They find the dolls still tied together with their rope and wrapped snugly in the warm quilt Belle let them borrow. She had placed them securely between two overnight bags and they didn’t appear to have been moved. They aren’t sure of what happened to Zelena, but they do believe that the little Belle doll did play a part.

Belle picks up the dolls and holds them like babies as Aindreas drives to New York.

During the time on the road, Aindreas tells Belle the real reason Zelena made him work on a Saturday and she is astonished by what she’s learned. Zelena has never shown any interest in Aindreas and has had only a salty attitude toward him. What made Zelena think that he’d ever see her as anything other than the wicked green bitch-witch? Belle is quite relieved that she didn’t know what happened during that time. She would have been inclined to defend her claim on the one she pines. Aindreas has never been happier to have found interest and a friendship with Belle the instant he knew Zelena’s real intentions. Had Belle not been there, there was a possibility the situation could have been a lot uglier.

Aside from the conversation about the events at the job and the all out craziness and mystery surrounding the voodoo dolls, Aindreas and Belle also discuss themselves. He learns a little about Belle’s family life and how her mother died when she was seventeen. She reveals the rocky relationship she has with her father and how they’re trying to work through the issues.

Aindreas is honored and humbled that Belle felt comfortable enough to share some of the troubling issues in her life. He can see why she treasures the relationship he has with Baelor. It’s something she never really had with her own father.

The drive to New York is long but pleasant, and Aindreas and Belle learn a little more about the other. They arrive in the city adoring one another more than when they started out on the trip.

“Are you sure there were signs to find this place?”, Belle asks, checking their location on the GPS on her smartphone.

“Yes, Bae saw more than a dozen of them,” Aindreas answers, pressing his foot on the gas after another red light.

“Well, I haven’t seen one.”

“Nether have I.”

“Are you sure we’re in the right area?”

“Yes.” He nods, hitting the break to allow a black dog to cross the street. “Bae and I ate at that ramen restaurant—” points to the white brick building on the left side of the road— “right after we left the magic shop.”

“If he saw as many signs as you said, then why haven’t we seen them by now?”

“I don’t know, Belle.” He makes a right turn. He thinks he and Baelor came from this direction after they left the shop. “Maybe the owner took them down.”

“Nobody ever takes those signs down. Once they’re up, they’re there until nature brings them down.”

He chortled at her snappy response. “Okay, you’re right about that.”

“I know I am.” She giggles, admiring his profile for the millionth time today. He’s so handsome up close and she’s been treated with such a breathtaking view for the past three and a half hours. His beauty makes her suddenly forget what she’s supposed to be searching for on her phone. But, God, that nose. It’s so distracting. She wonders what it’s like to have his face between her legs. “What was the name of the place again?”

“The Dragon’s Shop,” he immediately replies.

“Oh, yeah, that’s it.” She manages to tear her eyes away from him and googles the shop to find a phone number to call. But she’s unsuccessful. “Well, that’s strange.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t find anything—” she holds up the phone so he can view the blank screen— “and every time I try my browser shuts down.”

“That is a little unusual.” He slips his right hand inside the breast pocket of his jacket. “Here sweetheart.” He pulls out his device and gives it to her. “Try mine.”

“Thank you.” She takes the phone and unlocks it, finding the most adorable picture of him and Bae as his wallpaper. She always wondered what he saw on his screen every time he had the cell phone at work. “Aww, you two are so cute. How old was Bae in this picture?”

“Thank you, Belle,” he says with a smile. Talking about his son his favorite subject. “He was about three.”

“You had short hair back then.”

“Yeah, ummm,” his voice gets timid and small. “My wife liked it that way.”

There were a lot of things Milah Gold liked her way. She treated Aindreas like a child and her respect for him diminished with each year of their marriage. Things weren’t always this way and they’ve shared happy times together. But there were many things Aindreas could no longer sit back and take. Her infidelity and the constant abandonment of their son was the final straw for their marriage.

“Well, I like it long.” Belle fluffs the feathery graying locks resting on his shoulder.

Aindreas glances at her, cheeks blushing a soft rosy tinge. “I thought you we’re looking up the store?”

“Yes, but I also couldn’t help but flirt a little.” She twists her fingers in his hair.

He gazes back on the road, laughing to himself. Can’t remember the last time he’s been so openly flirted with.

“I love seeing your cheeks bloom.” She grazes the back of her hand across his blushing cheek

“Oh, Belle,” he says giggling. “I can’t drive now that you’ve gotten me this way. I just wanna kiss you.”

“You haven’t really kissed me since yesterday.” She rests her hand on his thigh. “When are you going to rectify that?” Lightly squeezes his leg.

Her voice sends shivers down his spine. There was something alluring about the way she spoke. “Belle?” He keeps his eyes glued to the road, but she defiantly has him a little worked up.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop.” She thinks he’s so cute when he’s anxious with jitters. Belle finally returns her attention back to the phone and opens the web browser. She types in the name of the magic shop and finds nothing related to the search. “Okay, what the hell?”

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“I can’t find anything about the shop.”

“Now this is very peculiar.”

“I concur.” She hands him back the phone  “So now what?”

“I don’t know, Belle.”  Slips the device in his pocket. “Maybe we can ask someone?”

“That’s a brilliant idea!”

Aindreas pulls the car to the side of the road where a same-sex couple is pushing a stroller and walking their dog. They appear to be residents of the area.

“Excuse us,” Belle says, hanging out of the passenger’s window.

The men stop and gawk at the car.

“We’re so sorry to bother you, but we’re not from New York and we think we’re lost. Our GSP isn’t picking up the location we’re looking for. Do you guys know this area?”

The dark skinned man hands the dog leash to his partner and steps up to the car. “I’m pretty familiar with the area, lived here most of my life.”

“Oh great!”, Belle says pleased, sitting back in the seat. “We’re looking for this little magic store, The Dragon’s Shop.”

“The storefront has dark bricks,” Aindreas chimes in. “Tinted windows and dead potted plants everywhere. It’s isn’t very inviting on the outside.”

“Ummm, I don’t think there’s ever been a magic shop in the area,” the man answers. “Lot of flower shops, gift stores, and restaurants have been up and down around here, though. But never a magic shop.”

“Are you sure?”, Aindreas asks. The magic shop owner mentioned his store being open in this area for decades. “My son and I was there not long ago.”

“Well, like I said, I’ve lived here most of my life and I’m almost thirty. But I think there’s a building that fits your description close by,” the man kindly explains. “It used to be our favorite little Thai place, then it became an adult bookstore, hence the tinted windows. But it’s been abandoned for years.”

“If you could give us the directions anyways, that would be exceedingly helpful,” Belle says.

“No problem. We actually just passed the place,” the man agrees and points them to the location to find the building.

Aindreas and Belle thank the helpful man and continue their search.

It doesn’t take long for them to enter an area Aindreas finds familiar. They’ve still haven’t seen a single sign to the place, but they manage to find it with the man’s directions.

“Is this it?” Belle asks as the car comes to another stop.

“Yes, I think so, but it didn’t look like this.”

“What did it look like?”

“More unkempt.” He tilts a little into Belle, observing the building from her window. “This place looks clean and kind of inviting. I’m not getting that creepy feeling I had the first time I was here.”

“You were weirded out when you was here the first time?”

“Yeah.” He sits back in the seat. “Bae literally dragged me through the door.”

Belle giggles lowering her head. “I’m sorry, but that’s just adorable. Is there anything you two do together that isn’t sugar coated in cute?”

“I don’t know, Belle—” he grins timidly— “to you, they’re probably isn’t.”

“I think that’s true.” She fondles his blushing cheek.

They share a longing gaze for a moment. Even though they’re on a mission to figure out why they have a connection between two voodoo dolls, they still enjoying every second they spin together.

Aindreas cuts his eyes away from her first. Someone had to keep things moving, otherwise, they’d end up just admiring each other. He then turns off the car and removes the keys. “Let’s go take a look around, sweetheart. I’m sure we can find something.”

“Should I bring the dolls?”

“Yes, I think that’s best to keep them close.”

They step out of the car together and take a stroll around the building, finding nothing out of the ordinary for an old abandon location. They peek through the dark glass and all they see are broken chairs, dusty boxes, and a stack of magazines left from the building’s days as an adult bookstore.

“It wasn’t like this when I was here with Bae,” Aindreas says frustrated that their path has lead to nothing. How could the state of this building change so quickly? “I promise you that, Belle. It wasn’t like this.”

“I know, Drew. I believe you and I know that there’s something strange going on.” She holds the dolls against her chest. “I know you never intended to take me on a wild goose chase.”

He rasps his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what to do now,” sighs in defeat. He never anticipated coming up empty handed.

She stands beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. She thinks about her night at Aindreas’ apartment and how she couldn’t get what they know about the dolls out of her mind.  “Maybe we’re not supposed to do anything and just let things run its course.”

“What do you mean, Belle?”

“I researched a few things about voodoo dolls last night after you went to sleep. Though they are used to cast a bad curse on someone, they can also be used for good. Helping someone with financial issues, finding a new direction in life, fertility, health, or even love.”

“Belle—” he wraps his arm around her— “almost everything you hear about magic always has a rule about not helping to find love.”

“I don’t know, Drew—” she shrugs— “I guess voodoo is different. It is one of the world’s oldest religions. But what happened to us doesn’t feel malice. It feels like someone was trying to help us find each other. I think that might be our connection to the dolls and why they’re only linked to us. There must be a strong love connection between us and the voodoo spirits that are in the dolls. Well, at least, that’s what I’ve come up with.”

“You really think that it’s love that this whole thing is about?”

“Yes. I think so,” she answers honestly. “I know that we’re not in love each other now, but we both deeply care for each other. And before the dolls came into our life, we couldn’t talk to each other without stumbling over our words. Maybe these little doll’s were our guide to help push our relationship a little further than just friends.”

“I don’t know, Belle, that all sounds nice. But I wish there was just some explanation clearly saying why this has happened. I just want to know for sure.”

“I know you do, but I don’t think you’re going to get that. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He kisses the crown of her head. “None of this was your fault.”

“And none of it was yours either.” She kisses the head of her Mr. Gold Doll so that Aindreas can feel her lips upon him. “There was no way for us to know this would happen.”

He chuckles when he felt her phantom kiss on the top of his head. If she keeps doing things like that, he can definitely get used to this connected by love idea. “You’re right.” He turns them around to face the car. “Come on, sweetheart. It’s going to start getting dark in a few hours. We should try to find a place to stay for the night.”

“Alright.”

On their way back to the car, they find a gold five inch squared envelope tucked under one of the windshield wipers waiting just for them.

Aindreas release his hold on Belle and rushes to the Cadillac. “Did you see anyone approach the car?” Aindreas asks, removing the envelope from the window. He searches to see if anyone else is in the area, but he and Belle are the only ones there.

“No. It’s only been us. I stood right by the building when you went to go check the back and no one came along here.” Though she wasn’t paying much attention to the car, she was close enough to still hear if someone were to approach it.

“Someone did because now we have this.”

Belle grazes her hand across the smooth golden paper, getting the sense that this might actually be what they’ve wanted. “Open it.”

He looks around the area surrounding them again, there has to be some here. The man in the magic shop had an act for sneaking up on people. Andreas wouldn’t be surprised if he was somewhere hiding. But he and Belle truly appear to be the only living things on the block. “Alright,” he finally replies. Aindreas carefully lifts open the flap on the back of the envelope and pulls out a square sheet of off-white heavyweight handmade mulberry paper. It isn’t the kind of paper you’d see in any store.

“What does it say?”, Belle asks with urgency in her voice. The suspense is killing her and his face isn’t giving her any signs of whether the message is good or bad.

He turns the paper so she can read the curvy, but legible, cursive writing. Written in a deep ebony ink is a ten-word sentence validating an idea they’ve just discussed.

Connect by the most powerful magic of all - true love.

Aindreas and Belle lock their eyes on each other in complete silence, astounded by the cryptic note. Their hearts beat fiercely as their minds fill with so many questions. True love? Is this really the reason why all this has happened?

“Drew?” Belle breaks the silence between them. “Is this our answer? Are we supposed to take this for what it is?”

“I don’t know, Belle.” He slips the note back into the envelope. “But it’s more than what we had before.”

“I think I believed what I said before, but I had some doubts about the theory. I really didn’t expect this. I was just hoping that the note would say a lot more.”

“I was hoping that too, but I think is this all were going to get.” He slides the note under the quilt with the dolls and takes Belle by the hand. “Let’s just go, sweetheart. I know you’re tired. We should find somewhere to stay tonight.”

“Okay.”

He opens the door for her and she sits inside, then he leans into the open window. “Can I kiss you, Belle?”, he asks, voice soft and full of hope.

She cups the nape of his neck and draws him into her. “You don’t have to ask to kiss me,” she whispers.

“I don’t?”

“No, Drew. I’ll always welcome your kiss.”

He tilts closer into her, grazing his nose gently upon hers, with their lips barely brushing each other. “I’ll always welcome your touch.” He kisses her and they both feel that tingling sensation that flowed through them during their first kiss.

Belle breaks off their tasteful touch and quickly presses her lips to his nose. “Did you feel that again?”, she asks, twirling her finger in his shoulder length hair.

“Yes, I felt our magic.” He nips at her bottom lip, loving the way it feels caught sweetly between his own.

“Will it always feel this way?”, she murmurs.

“I hope so.” He pushes her hair out of her face and steps back from the window. He treads to the driver’s side of the car and takes his seat inside.

Belle holds his hand as he ignites the engine and pulls the car away from the building that still holds so many mysteries.


	10. Another Night Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's gonna wash those sheets?

## Part Ten: Another Night Together

After finding a hotel they can afford, Aindreas and Belle plan on spending the night in their separate rooms. They separate the dolls and each takes the one that represents themselves to the rooms with them. Aindreas and Belle came to the agreement that they would keep their own little doll so that there wouldn’t be any accidental disruption in the life of the other. Though the dolls appeared to yearn to be with one another by they way they were able to tie themselves back together, Belle and Aindreas believe it might be best to keep them separate as they try to come to terms with that they’ve learned.

Many questions still surround the office mates and fear they can never truly take the note for its words. The letter just appeared from nowhere and anyone could have placed it on the window, but it was written with an answer to a question that only they knew was being asked. Maybe there’s a possibility that it could the truth.

Aindreas lays alone on his back in the hotel room, staring into the void of the ceiling. He thinks about everything that has transpired since finding the dolls and how he and Belle have learned so much about each other. He feels that their bond has grown greater.

Being by himself in the hotel room makes Aindreas lonely. A lot lonelier than if he and Belle had never taken this journey with the dolls. The pull that he’s always felt towards her is even stronger tonight. He doesn’t think he could sleep without having her close.

He sits up from the bed and slips his feet into his black fuzzy house shoes, then wraps himself in a white bathrobe. If he’s having such a strong sensation to be with her, maybe she might feel the same.

Aindreas Gold grabs the doll with his likeness from the nightstand. He exits his hotel room with hope to join Belle in room 36B.

**•••••••**

It takes a few moments, but Belle eventually opens the door.

Her stunning smile at the sight of him causes his heart to seize. “G-good evening, Belle,” he stutters, holding Mr. Gold Doll behind his back. He thought he’d be more composed when he laid eyes on her, but her beauty struck him hard and fast that he nearly forgot how to speak. He didn’t think she’d ever come to the door in a soft pink colored silk nightly. He’s never seen her baring so much flesh.

“Good evening, Drew.” She opens the door a little wider.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay,” she answers. “How are you?”

He lowers his head a little, biting his bottom lip. “Not so great.”

“What’s wrong?”, she asks with sincerity, hoping she can help with whatever may be hunting him.

“Well—” lifts his cocoa-colored eyes up at her— “it isn’t really me that isn’t doing so great.” A faint smile stretches on his face. “It’s Mr. Gold Doll.” He presents the doll from behind his back.

Belle giggles lightly, covering her grin behind the tip of her fingers, instantly catching onto his little game. “Mr. Gold Doll?”, she says, constricting her laughter.

“Yes, Belle. He isn’t doing so well. We tried to talk about it over a glass of scotch, but he couldn’t get over it.”

Another smile curls up at the corners of her lips as she gazes down at the voodoo doll. She still thinks he’s the most adorable thing. “Get over what?”, she asks, stroking her fingers through the doll’s brown and white yarn hair.

Aindreas closes his eyes and his body slightly trembles to her ghostly touch. He honestly meant it when he said he’d always welcome it. “Belle Doll—” opens his eyes and licks his lips— “he misses her.”

“He does?”

“Yes, sweetheart,” he answers with a nod. “I tried to talk him out of it, convince him that she might need her space, but it didn’t work. Nothing I said helped him.”

“Oh, no,” she gasps. “How are we going to help him?”

“If we could come in, so they could talk, I think it would put his mind and heart at ease.”

“Of course you can come in.” She steps to the left and invites them inside.

“Thank you so much, Belle.” He enters her room, finding the tv on with the sound on the lowest setting and a book on her bed. It appears that she couldn’t get any sleep either.

Belle rests her right hand on Aindreas’ shoulder, stopping him from going any further, and leans into his ear. “She’s been trying to be strong. Distracting herself with lackluster entertainment,” she whispers in the shell of his ear. Every word she speaks, every word they both speak, is a reflection of their own feelings. “She’s been telling herself that she didn’t miss him, that she could spend the night without him, but she’s just been lying to herself. She wants to see Mr. Gold Doll, just as much as he wants to see her.”

Aindreas turns his head to her and their noses brush over each other. “Then this should be a magical reunion for them.”

“It should.” She swings the heavy wood door shut and steps before him, gently taking the doll from his hand. “You can sit on the bed if you like.”

“Thank you, Belle.” He makes his way to the bed, removes her book and rests it in the nightstand, then takes a seat. Her mattress is a lot softer than the one in his room.

“I’ll sit Mr. Gold Doll on the vanity—” she locks the door to the room— “with Belle Doll so they can talk.”

“That sounds lovely Belle. He’ll really appreciate that.”

“I know he would.” She rests the dolls next to each other just like she said, then turns to Aindreas on her bed. “While they’re talking—” she slowly glides closer to the bed— “can I do anything for you?”

“Yes, Belle, you can.”

“What is it?”

“You can sit next to me.” He softly pats the empty place on the bed just to the right of him. His heart thumps out of his chest, anticipating the moments to come.

Belle licks her lips, gently sucking in her bottom lip between her teeth, and accepts the seat next to him. She leers at him, hunger igniting in her eyes for him. She has a good feeling that she knows why he’s here and she’s going to take things slow the way he likes it. “Can I do anything else for you?”, she asks.

“Yes.” He wipes his hands on the legs of his black pajama pants, freeing them of sweat. “Can you kiss me, Belle?”

“I said you didn’t have to ask to kiss me.”

“I know—” lowers his head a little— “but I asked you to kiss me.”

“I’ll kiss you if you tell me what’s wrong.” She slips her hand into his.

He looks at their hands together. It’s such an amazing feeling to have her palm in his. He has a question on his mind and he isn’t sure if he should ask, but he really must know the answer. “Would you be upset with me if I told I believed it? If I believed that what happened to us is exactly how it’s supposed to be. That we’re supposed to be each other’s love.”

“No, Drew. I wouldn’t be upset with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I believe it too.”  She rests her hand under his chin and lifts his head up. “Everything that’s happened has brought us closer together. I feel nothing negative from this.”

“I don’t feel anything negative either.”

“Maybe we should stop questioning it and let everything run its natural course. We can be together the way we want to be.”

“You really think we should do that?”

“Yes, I think that might be best. Maybe we can find the answers we seek ourselves just by being together.”

“I like that idea. I think we will be able to figure it out.”

“I believe we will. We just need to be together and see how things work. Stop denying ourselves from what we want.” She scoots closer to him, closing the gap between them. “Do you know what you want, Drew?”

“Yes,” he replies honestly. “I’ve known what I’ve wanted for the longest time.” Holds her left hand with both of his. “I just didn’t know how to get it, but now I’m here with you in your room. We’ve been on this strange journey together and confessed things to each other that we probably never would have said. We know how we feel and I think we have two little dolls to thank for that.” He subtly squeezes her hand. “I know what I want, Belle. I know exactly what I want and it’s you.”

Her heart jumps a beat when she hears his words. “I do believe that we have two dolls to thank. They’ve helped me get what I’ve wanted as well.” She brushes her right hand across his cheek. The light from the dim reading lamp sparkles in his eyes, he’s so strikingly handsome.

They both look over at the dolls on the vanity and they seem to be holding hands much like them. Belle isn’t sure if that’s the position she placed them, but she starting to thinks the way they seem to mimic her and Aindreas is precious. The dolls have never stricken any fear in her, only curiosity. She turns her attention back on Aindreas, tilting her head to the lift, focusing on his luscious lips. “Is that ask to kiss you still open?”, she questions.

“Always.”

She beams lovingly at him, crossing her right leg over his and Aindreas takes in a quick sudden breath.

“Belle?”, he exhales.

“You don’t like it?” She cups his cheek, caressing his fine soft flesh.

“I do like it.” His body trembles as he plants his hand on her knee.

“Good,” she whispers, slowly drawing him into her.

He glides his hand up the outside of her thigh, caressing her smooth hairless skin.

She rakes her hand through his hair and moistens her lips for a taste of his. She slowly tilts into to him, then their entwined in another passion fueled kiss.

“Mmm….” He instantly melds into her tender touch, closing his eyes and kneading the outside of her thigh. His body temperature rises as his heart pumps fiercely, pushing all to blood his quivering swelling balls.

Belle’s hands fall down to his waist and she unties his bathrobe. Her hands then slither back up to his shoulders and she slips off the garment.

Aindreas breaks away from her lips when his robe hits the bed.

She loses her breath from his sudden disconnection and gazes in his eyes, seeing a bit of fear in them. “Are you okay, Drew?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” He heavily breathes, their kiss left him breathless as well.

“Do you wanna stop?”

“No. I – I just need a moment.”

“That’s alright.” She lays her head on his shoulder, caressing her hand against his chest.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been with another person.”

“It’s been awhile for me too.”

“It has?”

“Mmhmm,” she hums, as her hand travels up to his other shoulder, massaging it firmly, relaxing him.

“I’m a lot older than you. My body isn’t how it used to be.”

“I don’t care.” She lifts her head. “I haven’t seen your body yet, but I like the way it feels.” Her hand slides down to his belly. “You’re so soft.” She lifts his shirt and slips her hand underneath, touching his bare flesh for the first time. “I like soft.” She nuzzles into his warm neck, peppering him with sweet kisses.

“Ah…. Ah…. You do?”, he breathes, eyes rolling back in bliss.

“Mmhmm,” she hums between kisses.

He moves his hand further up her thigh, running his finger just under the rim of her panties.

She lifts her head from his neck, fixated on his beautiful eyes once again. “Do you like that?”, she asks, removing her hand from under his shirt. “Do you like touching my panties?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like to see them?”

He slowly nods.

“Would you like to see them off?”

“Yes, Belle, I would.” He licks his lips, thirsting for a drink from her.

“Good.” She uncrossed her leg from over his and stands from the bed. “You can take them off.” She stands between his legs and haltingly lifting her nighty, revealing her rose patterned white panties.

“Those are cute, Belle.” His cock twitches in his pants. The little wet spot on her panties was unanticipated. He can almost see the folds of her pink lips through them.

“I was hoping you’d like them.”

“I do.”

“Maybe you could keep them after.”

“That would be nice.”

Still holding her nighty against her tummy with one hand, she takes his hand with the other and plants it on her hip.

He gradually runs his fingers across the top of the hem before suddenly dipping his whole hand inside.

She quickly lays her hand over his between her legs. “Ah!”, she moans, as his flat hand grazes over her damp pussy. “I didn’t know you were g-g-going to do that.” Her body lightly quakes.

“I know you didn’t.” He continues to rub her and combs his fingers through her dark pubes. “I wanted to surprises you.”

She rests both of her hands on his shoulders, keeping her balance. “You’ve…. You’ve d-definitely done that.” Her hands clenched into taut fists, tugging at his shirt.

“But before we go any further, Belle.” He removes his hand from her panties and slips it into the pocket of his pajama pants. “We’re going to need this.” Pulls out a condom.

Belle catches her breath and regains her balance. “I was wondering—” licks her dry lips— “if you had one because I did if you didn’t.”

“I guess we both really wanted this, didn’t we?”

“Yes. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No, there isn’t.” He places his free hand back on her hip and gives her the condom. “Will you put it on for me, Belle?”

“Of course—” takes the condom package in hand— “but you still have something to take off of me first.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” He eases her body closer to him and kisses her stomach, making a trail down to her panties. He takes the elastic band between his teeth and pulls them down just below the cheeks of her firm ass. He lays eyes on her cunt and it’s more beautiful than he imagined in his mind. He always thought she’d be hairless, but he’s gratefully surprised that she isn’t. He’ll love the feeling of the neatly trimmed dark curls brushing his face. “That’s cute too.” He looks up at her.

“Thank you,” she says with a coy smile of invitation, running her hand through his hair.

“Can I taste it, Belle?”

“You didn’t have to ask.”

“I just wanted to make sure it was okay.”

“It’s okay.” Her pussy aches to feel more of his touch. The juices of her sex drop bit by bit down the inside of her thigh, anticipating the soft strokes of his tongue.

“You’re so wet, Belle.”

“It’s because I crave to feel you between my legs.”

“You crave me?”

“Yes.” her purrs with desire.

“Then let’s cure your craving.” He gently backs her up from the bed and rises to his feet. “Lay down, please.” His Scottish brogue thickens with sex.

“I will—” she suddenly cups the front of his pajama pants, the pack in his briefs is tight— “after I see your’s.” She peers seductively.

“Uh!” He trembles. She took hold of him completely by surprise. “Fondle me like you did the doll,” he mutters through his uneven teeth.

She instantly juggles the bulge in her hand, squeezing and lightly tugging.

“Ah…. Ahh…. Uh,” he grunts.

She can feel him stiffening to her touch.

He thinks about that day in the office, breathing deeply and sweating in his cubicle. The sensation he has now is far greater because they are together. He can see her stunning eyes as her hand constricts around his aching manhood. “Ahh…. Ah….”, he cries louder.

“You like that, don’t you?”

“Mmhmm.” He closes his eyes tightly, can’t bring himself to speak. He grabs her by the wrist and pry her hand off of him, frozen in position until he gains back his speech. “Okay – okay,” he breathes, letting go of her wrist, needed a second to fight off the sensation of cumming. “I’m ready to show you know.” He wanted her to see him fully erect.

“I’m ready to see.” She completely removes her undergarment and slips off her nightly as will. Her plump soft mounds drop out of the nightgown’s built in bra and fall to their natural position.

“Oh, Belle,” he groans at the sight of her naked body, floored by the view. “I – I don’t think I – I have the words to express how stunning you are.”

“That’s okay.” She turns to the bed and peeks at him from over her right shoulder. “Your face said it all.” Bends before him and pulls the floral comforter off the bed, leaving only the sheets and pillows. She then sits on the edge of the bed, crossing her right leg over the left. “So are you doing to show me?”, she asks, voice thick with arousal.

“Yes, I am.” He takes a step closer.

“Do you need any help?” She kneads her right breast, teasing herself and him with a twist of her pink pebbled nipple. “Mmm….”, she faintly hums.

“You’re helping me already.” He kicks off his house shoes as his unbuttons his shirt, revealing his harmless chest to her.

“I knew you had a gorgeous body.” She gazes at him with lust in her eyes, adoring how his belly slightly hangs over his pants. His 55-year-old body isn’t anything how she fantasized it would be. To her, it’s more breathtaking. “Show me more.”

He takes another step forward, feeling more confident after seeing and hearing her reaction to his body, and uncrosses her legs to stand between them. His cock twitches to the sight of her pussy lips parting and the little damp spot on the blue sheet underneath her. “You’re just – you’re just so fucking wet, Belle.”

“I know.” She skates her right hand over his smooth chest.

“I never – never imagined you’d be this drenched for me.”

“You never realized how much I really wanted you to ever imagine it.”

“No, but I know that now.”

“Good.” She slips two fingers under the hem of his pants and pulls back the elastic. “Now take off those pants—” she let’s go and the fabrics snaps back into place— “they’re a fucking distraction,” snarls through her teeth.

“Yes, Belle.” He pulls down his black pajama pants, along with the brief underneath, and his erect throbbing cock bobbles out from its cotton restraints.

“Oh, Drew,” she says with awe. The way his rigid eight inches fell out was both majestic and sexy. “That’s gorgeous too.” She licks her lips for a taste of the beads of pre-cum dripping from his member. The bushing tip peeking out from the fold of his foreskin is yearning for her touch. “Can I feel it?”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

She rips open the condom package and wraps her hand around his cock, gently pulling back the skin.

His body slightly trembles as the foreskin rolls back, so sensitive.  

She licks off the pearly beads dripping from the head and wraps her moist lips around him.

“Ah!” He cups the back of her head, lightly scratching at her scalp.

“Mmm…. Mmm….” She rolls her tongue around the tip and fills her warm mouth with more of him. She can faintly taste the hotel soap from his bath.  

“Oh, Belle.” His hips slightly buck.

Saliva dribbles down the corner of her mouth as she takes in as much of his thickness without gagging. She slowly pulls him out, sucking harder at the tip before releasing his glistening cock from her lips. She then slurps up a melting ice cream cone and juggles his balls in her petite hand.

“Oh, Belle, oh, please, please stop.” He can’t take much more.

She kisses his tip and licks off another bead before glances up at him. “Okay,” she says, wiping the corners of her lips.

“I didn’t want to cum,” he breathes. “Not yet.”

“Okay,”she says giggling. It’s rewarding to know that he had to keep himself from cumming, twice. “I think we should put this on you now.”

“Yes – yes, please.”

She picks up his bathrobe from the floor and dries the saliva off of his cock so that the condom slips on easily and properly. “There you go.” She runs her finger across his latex clad stiffness, feeling the raised ridges of the condom. He has a brand that will provide them both with so much pleasure. He’s going to feel unbelievable inside. “All wrapped up.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Now, can you lay down, please?”

“Yes, Drew, I’ll lay down now.” She scoots all the way back to the wood headboard and sits up with her arms around her legs, keeping them closed.

Aindreas crawls in after her and positions himself in front of her kisses the top of her foot and making his way up to her knees. “Are you going to let me in, Belle?”, he murmurs on her warm flesh.

“I was going to let you in.”

He looks up at her, bending his head to the right. “I thought you craved to feel me between them?”

“I did.”

“Well, what’s changed?”, he asks, eyes wide with confusion, hoping that he hasn’t done something to turn her off.

“When I said that, that was before I had you in my mouth. I think I crave that more.”

Aindreas chuckles to himself, relieved that she’s just being playful. “But I’ve been waiting patiently to have a taste of you.”

“I know.” She grins, arching a brow.

“And you said that I could.”

“I know.”

“Don’t you think it’s unfair—” he unwraps her arms from around her legs— “for you to pleasure me twice and for you to not have anything?”

“I’d be getting something out of it, I promise.” She winks at him. She knows he couldn’t stop himself from cumming if she wrapped her lips around his cock again.

“Well, I don’t think it’s fair.” He presses his lips against her right knee, then the left.

“I knew you wouldn’t.” She parts her legs, inviting him inside. “Of course I’m going to let you in. I was just fucking with you.”

“I knew that.” He rubs his hand over her glistening curls and lays down on his stomach. He quickly strokes one finger across her slick slit.

“Mmm…”, she moans in bliss.

Aindreas dips two fingers between her swollen lips and separates them to reveal her pink bundle of nerves. “That’s what I want,” he says and submerges his face inside.  

“Ah… Ah!”, she cries, fisting her hands in his hair.

He kisses and suckles on her clit as he fills her opening with two fingers. Inserting them with his palm facing the ceiling, curling them upwards with a come-hither motion.

“Ahh! Oh, Drew!”,” she yells uncontrollably as he simulates the bean-shaped lump of her tumescent G-spot. “Oh, fuck!” Her toes curl as she tries to keep her legs from closing around his head. “Fuck! Fuck!” She involuntary tugs at his hair.

He finger fucks her while exploring every inch of her drenched sex. The sound that her pussy makes sends tingles down his spine. The taste and the smell are addicting. “Mmm…. Mmm….” He flicks his talented tongue  rapidly over her bud.

Her legs quivered and she tries to hold it back, but Belle suddenly surrenders to her forceful orgasm.  “Oh, Drew!” Her body spasms with the waves of sexual current rippling through her. She’s never felt such a powerful release with anyone else.

Aindreas lifts his head, licking the nectar from his lips and fingers, removing a few coarse hairs from his tongue. He crawls up to the head of the bed, sits beside her, and holds her against his chest. Her body still pulses with orgasm. “That was beautiful, Belle.” He kisses her on the brow. “You were beautiful.”

She catches her breath, calming her body to take back control of it. Her cunt throbs hard and fast, still feeling the penetrating of his fingers and tongue. After fully recovering from the best oral experience of her life, movement returns to Belle and she gazes up at him. “Do you do that with all the women you’ve been with?”, she asks.

A sly smirk curls on his face and he kisses her brow again. “Just with the ones I care about,” he answers.

“I’ve never orgasmed so quickly and have it feel that incredible. I couldn’t hold it back.”

“I’m glad you didn’t hold it back?”

“Why?”

“Because I get to see it again.”

She smiles and tilts into him for a kiss. “You do get to see again.” Presses her lips to his, tasting herself upon them, and gradually eases him down into the bed. She straddles on top of him, never taking her lips away.

Aindreas’ hands slide down her back, feeling her flexing muscles, and grabs her ass, squeezing and separating the rosy cheeks. His rigid cock brushes the brim of her taut little hole.

“Are you ready for me?” She sits up straight, resting her hands on his chest.

“I’ve been ready for a while.”

“Good.” She reaches behind, takes hold of his thickness and guides it to her soaked opening, filling herself with him.

They both close their eyes, basking in the moment that they’re finally connected.

Belle squeezes the walls of her muscle around him, before rolling her hips. “Ah… Ah…”, she breathes, feeling every ridge of the condom inside her.

Aindreas sits up and kisses her right breast, sucking and  tugging at the nipple. But Belle pushes him back down into the soft mattress.

“Just enjoy the ride.” She grinds on his cock.

“Oh, oh, I am.” He grabs her hips, squeezing at her cushioned flesh, helping to keep her anchored as she starts to hop. “Oh, fuck.” His head dips into the pillow underneath him, but he quickly lifts it up to watch his cock disappear inside her. “Fuck!”

Belle leans forward and kiss him with passion, as he wraps his arms around her back, holding her close, and thrusts himself against her. “Ah, oh, Drew,” she breathes upon his lips, sliding her feet under his knees to hook them around his calves.

As Aindreas fucks Belle balls deep, his cock slips out from all friction. He quickly grabs himself and slips it back inside her. “It feels so good—” he huffs between bucks of his hips, breathing in her hot moist breath— “to be inside you.”

“Ah, ah, mmm, ah,” she moans softly, lost in the sensation of their intense connection. She heard his words, but can’t bring herself to respond. Belle touches her forehead to his, gazing in his eyes as she rides him hard. The creamy juices of her sex drip down his shaft, coating the latex condom.

Aindreas grip her ass as she drives his cock within her and his balls throb and tighten, feeling his releases approaching. “I’m – I’m gonna cum,” he warns.

Belle sits up, unhooking her feet from around his calves, and repositions herself in a squat. Her hands lay flat on his chest to keep this new position as she pounces on his manhood. “I’m– I’m– I’m gonna cum too.” Her breasts flop up and down with her movements.

He dips two fingers of his right hand between her legs, playing with her clit, helping her to go over the edge again.

“Ah! Ah!” She digs her nails into his chest as her body stiffens and she drops to the left knees. She places her hand on top of  his between her thighs and helps him rub her faster. “Ahhh!” She lets herself go over the edge again, giving in to all the pleasure, and squirts on his lap, pushing out his cock. The warm clear liquid trails down the inside of his thigh.

“Oh, fuck, Belle!” He’s never felt a woman squirt while he was still inside her. The pressure that forced him out was unbelievable.

Belle drops to her both knees and returns his thick member inside her. He hasn’t cum yet and she can handle more until he does.

His fevered breath fills the hotel room as Belle fucks him senseless. The hypnotizing rhythm of her bouncing breast is all he can see. The feeling of her pussy around his dick is all he can feel. “Uh…. Uh…. Ah!” His skin flushed, as he claws and grips at the sheets on the mattress, and his toes curls. Aindreas’ heart beats uncontrollably and his brow starts to mist with sweat. The pulsation at the base of his shaft flutters even harder the longer he holds back. He doesn’t want this to end, or be the last that they’ll ever be together like this way. But Aindreas isn’t a superhero or a magically enchanted voodoo doll, and he gives in to the intense release. His jaw clenches and his hold on the blue cotton bed sheets tighten, as his entire body quivers with his orgasm. His cock vigorously discharges a thick wad of cum into the condom within her, filling it to the max. His salty seed drips down from the inside of the latex and flows out from the base, mixing with the liquid pooling on his lap. “I think – I think it’s flowing out,” he forces out his words, giving her warning of the draining over filled condom.

Though she’d love to stay and milk him dry, she shouldn’t let the load come in contact with her opening. So she quickly lifts herself from him, squirting a little more as he falls out of her, and looks down at his twitching manhood. “Yeah, it came out.” She sluggishly rolls over to the empty side of the bed, laying on her back.

“Did you,“ he pants heavily. "Oh, God,” he grunts from the intense orgasm still pulsating through his body. “Did you got it on you, sweetheart?”, manages to speak more calmly.

“No, I didn’t,” she answers breathy. “Thank you for the warning.”

“You’re welcome.” He rolls onto his side, lazily wrapping his arm and leg around her, resting his head on her chest, listening to the fierce thumping of her heart.  “I don’t remember ever cumming so hard.” He kneads her voluptuous breast. “When you pushed me out as you started to squirt, I’ve never felt anything like that.”

“I’ve never felt a lot of the things that I felt with you tonight.”

“That’s true for the both of us.”

They lay in the bed, collecting their thoughts, and bathing in the afterglow of their sexual connection. Everything they did and felt was perfectly in sync with what they’ve always wanted. Neither of them could be happier.  

Belle turns on her side and faces him, stroking her hand through his hair. “Will you be my boyfriend?”, she suddenly asks. She thought about this question since the moment he knocked on her room door but didn’t have the courage to ask until now. They’ve both given themselves to the other in the most intimate way possible and felt such nirvana during and after.  

“What?” He rests his hand on her cheek. He isn’t quite sure if he heard her correctly.

“I need to know where we stand,” she states passionately. “We talked about being together and allowing our relationship to grow, but we never actually said what it was. I don’t think I could sleep without knowing what you are to me. I know what I want you to be, but I don’t know if you want to be it.” She touches their heads together, grazing her nose over his, closing her eyes. “It’s okay if the answer is no. I understand if you’re not ready.”

“Yes.”

“What?” She pops open her eyes. “You answered quickly. Are you sure?”

“Yes, Belle.” He kisses her nose. “I thought about asking you when we were talking of not questioning what happened with the dolls. I wanted to ask you then, but I didn’t.”

“Oh, Aindreas!” She wraps her arm around him, hugging him as tightly as she can with only one. “You’ve made me so happy tonight.”

“I’ve always wanted to be the one to make you happy.”

“I wanted to be that person to you,” she says, pulling out of the hug. “Now I get to be.” She kisses his lips firmly and tenderly, stealing away his breath. Then breaks off the kiss, nibbling on his bottom lip. Every time they’re engaged in a kiss, she feels a tingle on her lips that she’ll never grow tired of. Every kiss is exactly like the first kiss. “Now that’s we’re not doing anything—” lays her arm and leg over him, much like he did to her— “it’s starting to get cold.”

Aindreas grins and steals away a kiss. “I’ll get the blanket for you.”

“Aww,” she sighs, removing her limbs from around him. “Thank you, boyfriend.”

“You couldn’t wait to call me that, could you?”, he comments with a chuckle in his throat.

“Nope!”

“I thought so.” He sits up in their sex stand bed, bends over the edge, and picks up the comforter from the floor. As he pulls it back into the bed and wraps his girlfriend under its warmth, the voodoo dolls on the vanity caught his eye. “Belle, look at them.”

She turns to her other side, remaining snuggled in the blanket, finding the dolls with their arms tied together with their magical rope. Belle Doll’s head rests against Mr. Gold Doll as if they were staged in this loving positions. “They look so pleased,” she sighs.

“That’s what I was thinking.” He lays down under the blanket behind her, being the big spoon in their little spoon drawer, locking their hands together. “You don’t think it’s creepy the way they seem to reposition themselves when we’re not paying attention?” He buries his nose in her hair.

“No,” she answers honestly. “I think of them as reflection of us. Everything they’ve done was to bring us together. I’ve never gotten a bad feeling from them.”

“I never felt that way about them either. I was afraid to touch them because I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I know, Drew, and I understand.

He blows sweet little kisses on the back of her head. “Do you think their magic will work now that we are together?”

“I don’t know, but we can always test it.”

"Alright,” he whispers in her ear. “But it will be your turn to feel my phantom touch.”

“Mmm—” she nestles in his arm, closing her eyes— “I can’t wait.”

Aindreas and Belle drift to sleep in the New York hotel room as their voodoo doll guardians continue watching over them. They never got the answers they sought from their trip out of state. But after this night together they’re content with the idea that maybe some things, like true love, don’t need an explanation.

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## Epilogue

It’s been three months since Aindreas has brought the voodoo dolls into his and Belle’s life, and their relationship together has grown stronger. They never felt the kind of love they feel for each other and never try to question if it’s real. Their journey into each other’s lives has been an odd one, but they wouldn’t change anything that’s happened.

Belle and Aindreas still work together at the company, sitting across from each other’s cubical. Belle allowed Aindreas to keep the doll with her likeness and Aindreas has done the same with her. The dolls magic has never ceased to exist, but they keep  each other’s dolls as a sign of respect and trust in their relationship. They rest the dolls on their desks at work and bring them home every evening. They can never seem to part from the little bundles of cloth that showed them the path to love. They both feel as though they owe them more than just a place to rest on a shelf.

It’s another day of work at the office as Aindreas Gold sits at his desk, figuring out the numbers for the company’s quarterly expenses.

Zelena Mills storms into his cube and quickly jumps back the instant she sees Belle Doll on his desk. “I thought I told you to get rid of that?”, she barks. Ever since that Saturday in her office, she’s loathed dolls. She still isn’t sure what had happened, but she knows that the thing on his desk was a part of it.

“Since Regina is now the dominant shareholder of the company,” Aindreas calmly responds. “She hasn’t stated any rules about personal items on desks.”

Zelena was finally voted out of the ownership, but Regina lets her keep a small percentage and allowed her to continue to work. But she has no real power over the employees, which make the office a more pleasant place to work.

“And since the last time you tried to make me get rid of her,” Aindreas goes on to say. “I asked Regina if it was okay for me to keep her.” A fiendish grin flashes on his face. “She said yes.”

Aindreas and Belle have discussed what happened with Zelena many times since that Saturday. And have thought of multiple theories as to what may have actually transpired. There are two they believe may rain truth.

Either Belle Doll was seeking revenge for the way Zelena mishandled her. Or, she saw Zelena as a threat to Belle and Aindreas path to love and she did what she could to stop the disruption. Either way, Belle, and Aindreas feel that the events of that day were from something trying protecting them. Protection just happened to come in a little doll shaped package.

Zelena stares coldly at the back of the doll’s head, wanting nothing more but to see the shit burn. But with the way he’s always protecting it, she’ll never have her chance to be rid of it once and for all. “Just bring me the numbers for this quarter by the end of the day!”, she abruptly yelled her orders. “Regina needs them tonight.” Storms out of the cube just as swiftly as she entered.

He grunts, rolls his eyes and shakes his head, then turns his attention back to the computer screen.

As Belle walks by Aindreas’ cube, returning from the employee’s lounge, she holds Mr. Gold Doll against her chest and winks at her boyfriend before taking the seat at her desk. She and Aindreas never leave their cube without the dolls.

Not long after Belle sat in her chair, Aindreas receives a text from the company’s new messenger installed on all computers.  

_**B. French:** What was that about?_

_**A. Gold:** What? With Zelena?_

_**B. French:**  Yes, with the Wicked Witch._

_**A. Gold:** You know, nothing. Just trying to make me get rid of Belle Doll again._

_**B. French:** I should have guessed._

_**A. Gold:** You would have been right._

_**B. French:** I know :D_

_**A. Gold:**  Enough about her. I missed YOU today._

_**B. French:** But you can see me._

She peeks from behind her computer, beaming a smile.

Aindreas flashes a grin of his own.

_**A. Gold:**  I still miss you._

_**B. French:**  Aww…. I miss you too._

_**A. Gold:** Can I kiss you?_

_**B. French:** You know you can._

_**A Gold:** I like to make sure it’s okay at work._

_**B. French:** I know you do and it’s okay  <3_

Aindreas carefully picks up Belle Doll from his desk and kisses her cheek.

_**B. French:** Aww…. I didn’t know you were going to kiss me there._

_**A. Gold:** Did you feel it?_

_**B. French:** You know I did!_

He hunches down behind the computer, so no one walking by can see what he doing, and kisses the doll on her stitched yarn lips.

“Mmm…”

He can hear her soft sighs flowing into his cubicle.  

_**B. French:**  That kiss was incredible, Drew._

_**A. Gold:** If you liked that one, then you’re going to love this one._

He lifts the skirt of the doll’s yellow dress and flicks his tongue between its legs.

“Ahh.”

He hears a suppressed moan and knows that she can feel him between her thighs.

_**B. French:** Again._

He kisses the doll between the legs and speedily strokes his tongue over its stitching.

“Mmm…. Mmm,” Belle hums a little louder and covers her mouth with her hands. Even though it isn’t going to stop the sensation, she tightly closes her legs under the desk. She sits tucked down behind her computer, keeping herself from crying out freely, feeling her boyfriend’s ghostly tongue on her clit.

Aindreas rubs his finger in a circle motion over the doll’s flat chest, hoping to stimulate Belle’s nipples.

“Ewww!” Ruby slams a stack of files on Aindreas’ desk. “What the heck are you doing to that doll?”

Aindreas instantly pops his head up from between the dolls legs. “Don’t you ever knock?”, he snaps at her.

“Umm… You’re in a cubical. There are no doors.” She stands with her hands on her hips, disgust plastered on her face. She knew Aindreas was awkward, but she never took him to have a fetish for dolls. “You know what—” she heads to the exit— “I don’t what to know.”

Aindreas sighs, burying his face in his hands. Doesn’t know if he should be embarrassed or disappointed because Belle didn’t cum. He peeks up at the screen, knowing Belle is wondering what happened, and sure enough, there’s another message from her.

_**B. French:** Why did you stop?_

_**A Gold:** Ruby was just here._

_**A Gold:** She saw what I was doing._

_**B. French:** Oh shit!_

Belle jumps up from her desk, takes Mr. Gold Doll off of her bookshelf, and dashes to Aindreas’ cube. “I’ll go talk to her.” She rests her doll on his desk so that he can keep an eye on him for her, then rushes off to find their co-worker. Even though Ruby is Belle’s friend, she has to make sure that no rumors are spread.

Aindreas grunts, racking both hands in his hair. Maybe he should have been focused on work instead of trying to get his girlfriend off with their magical voodoo touch.


End file.
